Defined term
Easement
An easement is a non-possessory right to use another person's land for a specific purpose — most commonly access, utilities, or drainage.
An easement gives the holder a right to use a portion of someone else's property for a defined purpose without owning it. Easements run with the land — they bind successor owners on both the burdened (servient) and benefited (dominant) parcels.
Easements are created four primary ways: (1) express written grant, (2) implication from prior use, (3) necessity (typically for landlocked parcels), and (4) prescription (long, open, hostile use). The terms of an easement control what's permitted; expansion of an easement's use beyond its original purpose is the most-litigated dispute.
Statutes
- Ala. Code § 35-4-1 et seq.
- Fla. Stat. ch. 704