
Quoting
Yagjian v O'Brien, 19 Mass App Ct 733; 477 NE 2d 202 (1985)
Depending on conditions, cases have reached varying conclusions concerning the adverse character of gates or barways erected by servient owners across a right of way, not to impede use of the way, but to facilitate use of the servient estate. See, e.g., Short v. Devine, 146 Mass. 119, 124-127 (1888), and cases cited; Ball v. Allen, 216 Mass. 469, 472-474 (1914); Merry v. Priest, 276 Mass. 592, 599-600 (1931), and cases cited; Lemieux v. Rex Leather Finishing Co., 7 Mass. App. Ct. 417, 422 (1979); Stucchi v. Colonna, 9 Mass. App. Ct. 851 (1980); 3 Powell, Real Property § 424, at 34-259 (1977). Unlocked gates or barways may have the practical effect of burdening or delaying passage, but, by their very nature, they are consistent with, and contemplate, passage. The cases on this subject have tended to weigh slight inconvenience to the dominant owner's use of the way against the servient owner's freedom to use his property in a reasonable manner for his own benefit and convenience and to strike an equitable balance. The question is whether the interference is so slight as to be reasonable in all the circumstances. O'Linda v. Lothrop, 21 Pick. 292, 297 (1838). Hodgkins v. Bianchini, 323 Mass. 169, 173 (1948). Patterson v. Simonds, 324 Mass. 344, 352-353 (1949). Western Mass. Elec. Co. v. Sambo's of Mass., Inc., 8 Mass. App. Ct. 815, 825 (1979). See Delconte v. Salloum, 336 Mass. 184, 190-191 (1957) (Whittemore, J., dissenting).