Easements Flashcards
What is an Easement?
a legal right which allows the DT to use a specific part of the ST land
What case established the principles of an easement?
Re Ellenborough Park (1956)
What is needed to establish an Easement?
- There must be a DT and ST
- There must be a diversity of ownership or occupation
- Alleged Easement must benefit the DT
- Alleged Easement must be able to form the subject matter of the grant
What is Servient Tenement?
land on which the right is being exercised on (the detriment)
What is the Dominant Tenement?
The land that is benefiting from the easement
What is Tenement?
Land not the land owner
Cases under Diversity of ownership and occupation
Roe v Siddons
Wright v Macadam
Roe v Siddons
DT and ST cannot be owned and occupied by the same person
Wright v Macadam
Lan can be owned by the same person but has to be occupied by two different people (situation of leases)
Must the easement benefit the land or the owner?
Land
Proximity of land
The ST and DT must be sufficiently close in distance - need not be side by side or share a common border (Re Ellen & Regency Villas v Diamond Resorts)
–> The further the least likely
Cases for illustration of the right must not be conferring a purely personal right/commercial benefit
Hill v Tupper
Moody v Steggles
London and Blenheim Estates v Ladbrooke Retail Parks Ltd
Analogy for Purely Economic Benefit
- not an easement
- Hill v Tupper contrast with Moody v Steggles ~ Commercial benefit towards DT owner
- Current law: London and Blenheim v Ladbrooke ~ whether the alleged easement is so connected with the land that the benefit accrues to the current owner because he owns the land
Hill v Tupper
No Easement - Commercial Benefit to the owner not the land
Moody v Steggles
Had Easement - despite being a benefit to the owner of the DT
London and Blenheim Estates v Ladbrooke Retail Parks
whether the alleged easement is so connected with the land that the benefit accrues to the current owner because of the land
Must the easement be specific?
yes - vague and general recreational use will not likely be an easement (Re Ellen + Regency v Diamond)
Regency Villas v Diamond Resorts
can accommodate recreational use that benefits in a clear and well defined circumstance ~ must be more towards the enhancement of the value of the land
Certainty Cases
Re Aldred
Browne v Flower
Coventry v Lawrence (No 1)
Re Aldred
no easement to a good view (too indefinite)
Browne v Flower
No easement to privacy
Coventry v Lawrence (No 1)
OBITER: possibility to an easement to noise
