An easement is a right in rem — a legal right to use another person's land (the servient tenement) for a specific purpose, benefiting the holder or another parcel of land (dominant tenement). Unlike licence, an easement runs with the land and is enforceable against subsequent owners of the burdened land.
Indian Easements Act 1882. Easements can be: acquired by grant, by prescription (20 years of peaceable enjoyment for private land), or by necessity. Rights of way (public and private), light and air, water flow, and support are common easements. Section 4 IEA defines easement broadly.
Law of Property Act 1925, Re Ellenborough Park [1956] sets the four Re Ellenborough Park criteria for easements. Must be accommodated to the dominant tenement, not merely a personal advantage. Easements can be legal or equitable, express or implied.
Under Section 13 of the Indian Easements Act, if land is transferred or bequeathed and the transfer would be meaningless without an easement (e.g., landlocked land), a right of way by necessity arises automatically. It is implied in favour of the grantee.
Get jurisdiction-specific analysis, case law, statute citations, and strategic advice from Cognexia AI Legal across 120+ jurisdictions.
Try free — 25 credits