Also known as: servient tenement · servient estate
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A parcel of land whose possessor is subject to an easement benefiting the possessor of another parcel. The burden runs with the land and limits the servient owner's use to the extent it interferes with the easement.
Apex Industrial Park LLC owns land uphill from a rail spur. Its predecessor recorded an agreement allowing trucks to cross an adjacent factory lot on a paved road. Nexus Manufacturing Corp later bought the factory lot and tried to block the road. The factory lot is the servient tenement because its owner must allow the access that benefits the industrial park.
O owns Blackacre and grants Pipeline Company an easement for a gas line. O later grants A an easement for a road across Blackacre to Whiteacre. Blackacre is the servient tenement for both easements. The beneficiaries hold the duty to repair portions under their control to avoid unreasonable interference with either use.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Stephen Shaw conveys land to Sophia Singh while retaining an easement for driveway access over the conveyed parcel. Before the sale the parcel was already used as a driveway for Shaw's retained land. The conveyed parcel is the servient tenement, and its prior use as a driveway helps determine the scope of the burden that travels with the land.
Samuel Soto owns land subject to a recorded easement for an electric transmission line along its northern edge. Soto wants to plant trees and build a shed in that strip. The land is the servient tenement, so Soto may use it only in ways that do not unreasonably interfere with the power company's maintenance and operation of the line.
Sarah Sullivan conveys a strip of land to Stella Shapiro while retaining an easement for access. After the sale Shapiro widens the road on the conveyed parcel to accommodate larger vehicles. The conveyed parcel is the servient tenement, and its post-conveyance use helps measure whether the expanded traffic exceeds the original burden.
Will and Jean Brown own parcel B benefited by an easement across parcel A owned by Fred and Hattie Voss. Brown buys adjacent parcel C and begins using the easement to reach C as well. Parcel A is the servient tenement, so its owners may obtain an injunction when the easement is used to serve land outside the dominant estate.
A servient tenement is the land burdened by an easement. A dominant tenement is the land benefited by that easement. The same parcel can be servient to one easement and dominant to another.
Supporting sources
Yes. When the same owner acquires both the dominant and servient estates, the easement is extinguished to the extent the owner can make the same use by virtue of owning the servient land outright.
Supporting sources
The servient owner may use the land in any way that does not unreasonably interfere with the easement. Joint use of improvements triggers a duty to share reasonable repair costs.
Supporting sources
Courts consider the use made of the servient tenement both before and after the conveyance that created the easement when determining the permitted extent of the burden.
Supporting sources
…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…