easement
Section 4 of the Indian Easements Act, 1882 defines an easement as a right which the owner or occupier of land possesses, as such, for the beneficial enjoyment of that land, to do and continue to do something, or to prevent and continue to prevent something being done, in or upon other land not his own. The land benefited is the dominant heritage; the land burdened is the servient heritage. Examples are a right of way, a right to light and air, and a right to drain water.
Easements may arise by grant, by necessity (s.13), by prescription after twenty years of peaceable, open and uninterrupted enjoyment as of right (s.15), or by custom. An easement attaches to land, not to a person; a licence (s.52) is personal and creates no interest in the property.
Example
Having used the path across his neighbour's field openly and as of right for twenty-two years, he acquired an easement by prescription under s.15.
In Indian law
- Sections 4, 13 and 15, Indian Easements Act, 1882
See also
Read more in the study notes
- Wrongful restraint, wrongful confinement, criminal force and assault (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita)
- Offences against public tranquillity (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita)
- Relevance of judgments of courts (sections 34 to 38) (Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam)
- Parties to suits, joinder of causes of action and multifariousness (Orders I and II) (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)
- Limitation Act, 1963: salient features, bar of limitation, condonation of delay and legal disability (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)
- Prescription, adverse possession and extinguishment of title (sections 25 to 27) (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)