Servitudes: Easements, Covenants and Equitable Servitudes: every key term you need (+ practice quiz)
25 flashcard terms for Property Topic 5, written to match the course framework. Study them here, then drill them as interactive flashcards, or test yourself with the 15-question quiz — free, no account needed.
A nonpossessory property interest that entitles its holder to use land in the possession of another, or to prevent the possessor from making certain uses of that land, and that binds successors when properly created.
Easement Appurtenant
An easement that benefits its holder in the use of a particular parcel of land. The benefit attaches to the dominant estate and passes automatically with a transfer of that parcel even if the deed does not mention it.
Easement in Gross
An easement that benefits its holder personally rather than in connection with any parcel of land, such as a utility company's right to run power lines. There is a servient estate but no dominant estate.
Dominant and Servient Estates
The dominant estate is the parcel benefited by an appurtenant easement; the servient estate is the parcel burdened by it. Ambiguous grants are usually construed as appurtenant rather than in gross.
Affirmative Easement
The ordinary form of easement, entitling the holder to go onto and perform some act on the servient land, such as crossing by a driveway, laying a pipeline, or draining water across it.
Negative Easement
A right to prevent the servient owner from doing something on his own land. Traditional English law recognized only four types, for light, air, subjacent or lateral support, and flow of an artificial stream.
Profit a Prendre
A right to enter another's land and remove something of value produced by or part of the soil, such as timber, minerals, or game. It carries an implied easement of access and follows easement rules.
License
Mere permission to enter land that would otherwise be a trespass. It is generally revocable at the will of the landowner, need not be in writing, and is a personal privilege rather than an interest in land.
Irrevocable License by Estoppel
A license becomes irrevocable when the licensee, in reasonable reliance on the licensor's permission, invests substantial labor or money in improvements. Holbrook v. Taylor applied this to a road improved for access to a home.
Express Grant or Reservation
An easement created by a signed writing satisfying the Statute of Frauds. A grantor conveys the easement to another by grant, or keeps an easement over the conveyed land for herself by reservation.
Reservation in Favor of a Third Party
The common law barred reserving an easement for a stranger to the deed. Willard v. First Church of Christ Scientist rejected that rule, letting grantor intent control over the formalism.
Easement by Implication from Prior Use
Arises on severance of common ownership where a quasi-easement existed that was apparent, continuous, and reasonably necessary to enjoyment of the parcel claimed to be dominant, as in Van Sandt v. Royster.
Apparent Use Requirement
For an implied easement the prior use must be discoverable by reasonable inspection. Van Sandt held an underground sewer line was apparent because visible plumbing put a reasonable buyer on notice.
Easement by Necessity
Implied when a parcel is severed from a larger tract and the severance leaves the claimed dominant parcel without access to a public road. It requires unity of ownership followed by severance creating the necessity.
Strict Versus Reasonable Necessity
Easements by necessity generally demand strict necessity, meaning landlocked with no practical access. Implied easements from prior use require only reasonable necessity, since prior use supplies evidence of intent.
Easement by Prescription
Acquired by use that is open and notorious, adverse or under claim of right, and continuous for the statutory period. Unlike adverse possession, exclusivity is not required and the owner may keep using the land.
Scope of an Easement
Determined by the parties' intent or, for prescriptive easements, by the pattern of the adverse use. Normal development of the dominant estate and changes in technology are usually within contemplation.
Surcharge
An unreasonable increase in the burden on the servient estate that exceeds the easement's permitted scope, such as serving nondominant parcels. The remedy is an injunction or damages, not automatic termination.
Relocation of an Easement
Traditional law let neither party move a fixed easement without consent. Restatement (Third) of Property, Servitudes section 4.8, allows the servient owner to relocate at his expense if enjoyment is not lessened.
Divisibility and Apportionment
Whether an easement in gross may be shared or transferred. Miller v. Lutheran Conference held that commercial easements in gross are transferable but must be used as one stock, requiring joint action by co-owners.
Termination of Easements
Ends by release in writing, merger of dominant and servient titles in one owner, abandonment shown by intent plus conduct, estoppel, prescription by the servient owner, or the end of a strict necessity.
Real Covenant
A written promise about land use enforceable at law for damages. To bind or benefit successors it must satisfy intent, touch and concern, notice, and the applicable privity requirements.
Horizontal and Vertical Privity
Horizontal privity is a shared property interest between the original covenanting parties, usually a grantor and grantee. Vertical privity links an original party to a successor taking the same estate.
Equitable Servitude
A land use promise enforced in equity by injunction against a successor who takes with notice. Tulk v. Moxhay allowed enforcement without privity, focusing on conscience and notice rather than technical form.
Implied Reciprocal Negative Servitude
Arises when a developer sells lots under a common scheme of restriction. Sanborn v. McLean bound a later purchaser whose deed was unrestricted, based on the visible uniform character of the neighborhood.