😀
Real Property • Easements
PROP#114
Legal Definition
An existing easement by prescription can be terminated by a subsequent prescription.
Plain English Explanation
In previous cards, you learned that an easement by prescription is an easement created through forceful, continuous trespass on a property. Similarly, once an easement is created, it can be terminated through forceful, continuous impeding of the easement.
Hypothetical
Hypo 1: Bob owns Blackacre, a grassy parcel of land with a lake. The lake is full of fish. One day, Amy trespasses on Bob's land and walks from the public road straight to the lake. She sits down and fishes. Every day during the summer, she comes back to fish, parking her car at the edge of the public road, walking to the lake, and fishing. Amy visits so often and frequently that a footpath begins to develop from the road to the lake due to her trampling the grass. For 20 years, Amy continues to visit the lake a few times per week. Amy has created an easement by prescription. Bob, realizing what Amy has done, builds a fence around his property, blocking Amy's easement. Amy doesn't use the path for 20 years, but after 21 years she visits and demands the fence be taken down. Result: Just as Amy had earned a prescriptive easement through continuous uninterrupted trespass on Bob's property, Bob has destroyed the easement through continuous uninterrupted interruption to the easement.
Visual Aids
Related Concepts
How can an easement be terminated?
How is an easement created?
How is an easement terminated via abandonment?
How is an easement terminated via destruction or condemnation?
How is an easement terminated via estoppel?
How is an easement terminated via release?
How is an easement terminated via stated condition?
How is an easement terminated via unity of ownership?
If the holder of an easement misuses it, does the easement terminate?
In assessing an easement, who has a duty to make repairs?
In assessing a property law issue, how may a license become irrevocable?
In assessing a property law issue, what is a license?
What constitutes a valid easement by express grant?
What is an affirmative easement?
What is an easement?
What is an easement appurtenant?
What is an easement by prescription and how is it acquired?
What is an easement in gross?
What is a negative easement?
What is the difference between a license and an easement?
What is the result of a failed attempt to create an easement?
When does an easement by express reservation arise?
When does an easement by necessity arise?
When does an easement by necessity terminate?
When may an easement be implied without preexisting use?
When may existing use create an implied easement?
