Easements and licenses - Next Generation Bar Exam

1. What is an easement in gross?

   An easement that benefits a person or entity rather than a parcel of land. Commercial easements in gross, such as utility easements, are freely transferable.

2. What is the scope of an easement when the instrument is silent?

   Reasonable use consistent with the parties' intent, allowing for normal development. The servient owner may use the land in ways that do not interfere with the easement.

3. By what methods may an easement be terminated?

   Merger, release, abandonment, estoppel, prescription, or end of necessity. Abandonment requires physical acts showing intent to abandon, not mere nonuse.

4. What is the general rule on a dominant owner's use of an easement appurtenant to benefit additional land?

   The easement may not be used to benefit land other than the dominant parcel. Using the easement to serve a nondominant parcel is a misuse.

5. What are the four ways to create an easement?

   Express grant or reservation, implication, necessity, and prescription. An express easement must satisfy the statute of frauds.

6. A neighbor gives a friend oral permission to cross her land. The friend later sells his house. What is the buyer's right to cross?

   The buyer has no right, because the friend held only a personal license. A license is personal and does not run with the land.

7. What is an easement appurtenant?

   An easement that benefits a dominant parcel and burdens a servient parcel. It passes automatically with the dominant parcel.

8. An owner sells the landlocked back half of a parcel, which has no access except over the front half. What easement does the buyer receive?

   An easement by necessity over the front half. Common ownership and strict necessity at severance create the easement.

9. When does a license become irrevocable under the doctrine of estoppel?

   When the licensee, with the licensor's knowledge, makes substantial expenditures in reasonable reliance. The license then operates as an easement for the period needed to recoup the investment.

10. What are the requirements for an easement by prescription?

    Open and notorious, adverse, and continuous use for the statutory period. Unlike adverse possession, exclusivity is generally not required.

11. What are the requirements for an easement by necessity?

    Common ownership and strict necessity at the time of severance. The easement ends when the necessity ends.

12. What are the requirements for an easement implied from prior use?

    Common ownership, apparent and continuous prior use, and reasonable necessity at severance. The prior use is often called a quasi-easement.

13. What is a license?

    Permission to enter another's land, revocable at the licensor's will. A license is not an interest in land.

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