Also known as: landed estates · estate in land
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A possessory interest in land whose duration is measured by time or by a life. The interest may be inheritable by lineal and collateral heirs when held by a natural person and is subject to the same formal creation requirements as other estates of like duration.
Lakeshore Industries conveyed a subdivision lot to Logan Lane by deed containing a covenant limiting use to single-family dwellings. The deed stated the covenant ran with the land for the benefit of all lots. Because the formal requirements for the servitude matched those for creation of a fee simple estate in land, the restriction bound successive owners as part of Logan's landed estate.
Legacy Motors granted an access right across its retained parcel to benefit the parcel sold to Luis Lopez. The grant expressly stated the right would burden Legacy's retained landed estate and benefit Luis's purchased estate. The servitude attached to both estates under the rule permitting creation to burden or benefit any estate in land.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Keystone Bituminous Coal Association held mineral rights under multiple parcels. State subsidence rules prevented full extraction, reducing the economic value of the landed estates. The owners claimed the rules effected a taking of their property interests measured by duration.
Pennsylvania Coal Company conveyed surface rights while retaining subsurface coal estates. A later statute required support for surface structures, preventing full extraction. The company argued the statute took its landed estate by destroying the economic value of the retained mineral interest.
Stop the Beach Renourishment owned oceanfront parcels whose boundaries were defined by the mean high-water line. State beach restoration added new dry land seaward of the original line. The owners asserted the addition deprived them of their landed estates' contact with the water.
Burns promised McCormick a house in exchange for care during Burns's final years. No writing satisfied the statute of frauds for transfer of the landed estate. The court held the oral agreement created no enforceable interest in the real property.
A landed estate is measured by duration and may become possessory, unlike contractual rights or licenses that confer no ownership segment in land.
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Yes. The formal requirements for creating a servitude are identical to those for creating an estate in land of like duration.
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Yes. A servitude may be created to burden or benefit any estate in land or another servitude.
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It passes to collateral heirs such as cousins under intestate succession rules.
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…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…