Also known as: servient parcels · servient tenement · servient estate
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Land burdened by an easement that benefits another parcel. The possessor of the servient parcel must allow the easement holder to exercise the rights granted by the servitude.
Apex Industrial Park LLC owns land uphill from a rail spur. Its predecessor recorded a written grant allowing trucks to cross the adjacent factory lot on a paved road. Nexus Manufacturing Corp later bought the factory lot and announced plans to block the road. The factory lot is the servient parcel, so Nexus takes title subject to the existing easement and cannot block the trucks.
O owns Blackacre and grants Pipeline Company an easement for a high-pressure gas line. O later grants A an easement for a road across the same land to reach Whiteacre. Blackacre is the servient parcel. When the pipeline needs maintenance, Pipeline Company must repair the portions under its control to avoid exposing O to third-party liability.
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Spencer Silver sells part of his ranch to Sabrina Shah and retains a right of way across the sold parcel. Before the sale the sold parcel was used only for occasional cattle drives. After the sale the buyer begins regular heavy truck traffic. The prior limited use of the servient parcel helps determine whether the expanded traffic exceeds the easement's scope.
Samuel Soto owns the servient parcel crossed by an easement for pedestrian access to a neighboring lot. Soto plants low shrubs along the path that do not block passage. The shrubs are a permissible use because they do not unreasonably interfere with the easement holder's enjoyment of the servitude.
Sydney Santos conveys a strip of land to Steven Silva while retaining an easement for access. After the conveyance Santos begins using the servient strip for commercial deliveries instead of the prior residential use. The post-conveyance change in use of the servient parcel is relevant to whether the expanded activity remains within the easement's scope.
Will and Jean Brown own parcel B benefited by an easement across the Voss parcel. Brown later buys adjacent parcel C and begins using the easement to reach parcel C as well. The Voss parcel is the servient parcel. The easement may not be used to benefit the nondominant parcel C.
Unity of ownership extinguishes the easement to the extent the dominant owner can make the same uses by virtue of owning the servient parcel outright. Upon later sale of the servient parcel the easement does not automatically revive.
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The servient owner may use the land in any manner that does not unreasonably interfere with the easement holder's enjoyment of the servitude.
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When both parties use the same improvements on the servient parcel they must contribute jointly to reasonable repair and maintenance costs.
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Courts consider the use made of the servient parcel both before and after the conveyance when determining whether later expanded uses remain within the easement's scope.
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…Reed, J.; Petrich, C.J., and Petrie, J., concur Opinion of Reed, J. Defendants, Fred and Hattie Voss, owners of the servient estate, appeal from a judgment that denied their counterclaim for an injunction against Will and Jean Brown, plaintiffs, owners of the dominant estate. Defendants requested the injunction to…