Also known as: estates in land
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An interest in land that is or may become possessory and is measured in terms of duration. Present estates confer current possession while future interests may become possessory later. The concept distinguishes estates from nonpossessory interests such as easements.
Elliot Edmonds conveyed a subdivided lot to Evelyn Ellison by deed containing a covenant limiting structures to single-family homes. The deed stated the covenant ran with the land for the benefit of all lots. When Ellison later attempted to build a commercial structure, a neighboring lot owner enforced the restriction because the covenant satisfied the same formal requirements as an estate of like duration.
Emily Ellis granted a right-of-way across her fee simple parcel to Elena Estrada's adjacent lot. The grant expressly burdened Ellis's estate to benefit Estrada's estate. When Ellis sold her parcel, the buyer took subject to the servitude because it had been validly created to burden an estate in land.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Eduardo Enriquez owned surface land while a coal company held the mineral estate beneath it. State regulations restricted mining to protect surface structures. The company challenged the rules as a taking of its recognized estate in land.
Edgar Evers owned coal rights constituting a separate estate in land under Pennsylvania law. A statute required leaving pillars of coal in place to prevent surface subsidence. Evers claimed the requirement effected a taking of that estate.
Everlasting Insurance owned beachfront property whose littoral rights extended to the mean high-water line. State beach-renourishment projects added new land seaward of that line. The owner asserted that the added strip constituted a taking of its estate in land.
Eclipse Manufacturing orally promised to convey a life estate in a house to an employee in exchange for lifelong care. The employee provided services for years but received no deed. Upon the company's refusal to convey, the court held that no estate in land had been created.
An estate must be or become possessory and is measured by duration, whereas an easement is a nonpossessory right to use land that never confers possession.
Supporting sources
Yes. The formal requirements for creating a servitude are identical to those for creating an estate in land of like duration.
Supporting sources
Yes. A servitude may be created to burden or benefit any estate in land or another servitude.
Supporting sources
Courts recognize certain mineral or support rights as separate estates in land whose destruction by regulation may constitute a taking.
Supporting sources
The conveyance itself must meet the same formal requisites that would apply if the easement were created expressly as an estate of like duration.
Supporting sources
…the house. On the other hand the extent of the taking is great. It purports to abolish what is recognized in Pennsylvania as an estate in land — a very valuable estate — and what is declared by the Court below to be a contract hitherto binding the plaintiffs. If we were called upon to deal with the plaintiffs' position alone, we…