Also known as: easement by prescription · prescriptive easement · prescriptive easements
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
A nonpossessory interest in land acquired by open, adverse, and continuous use of another's property for the period fixed by local law. The resulting right entitles the holder to protection against interference with the established use.
Esme Ellington has driven delivery trucks across a dirt strip on Everest Holdings' adjacent parcel every weekday for the full number of years required under state statute. Everest Holdings never objected or granted permission during that time. When Everest Holdings later attempts to block the route, Esme Ellington can enforce the prescriptive easement because the use satisfied the local period of prescription.
Elena Estrada installed solar panels on her roof that require unobstructed sunlight across Edward Everett's neighboring lot. For the statutory period Edward Everett's trees grew without blocking the light, but he now plans taller plantings that would shade the panels. Elena Estrada asserts a prescriptive easement to maintain the prior light access based on the long, open use.
The plaintiff, Frank Prah, owns a residence in a subdivision in the Town of Muskego that he constructed during 1978 or 1979. His home includes a solar energy system which includes roof-mounted solar collectors located on the south side of the roof. The solar energy system supplies heat for the plaintiff's domestic hot water and space heating. The plaintiff has invested $20,000 in his solar heating system. In 1980, the defendant, Richard D. Maretti, acquired the vacant lot immediately south of Prah's property and began planning to build a two-story residence whose roof would extend to within twelve feet of the lot line. The proposed structure would cast a shadow over Prah's solar collectors during the winter months, rendering the heating system inoperable. Prah informed Maretti about the solar system and asked him to adjust the location of the new home to avoid interference with the collectors, but Maretti declined to modify his plans. Prah then filed suit in the Circuit Court for Waukesha County, alleging that the construction would constitute a private nuisance and seeking injunctive relief along with compensatory and punitive damages. The circuit court dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim. On appeal, the court of appeals certified the case to the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, which accepted certification.
View caseThe required length is the period fixed by local law as sufficient for obtaining easements by prescription.
Supporting sources
An easement by prescription arises from adverse use that creates only a right to continue the particular use, whereas adverse possession transfers title to the underlying land itself.
Seasonal use can ripen into a prescriptive easement when it is open, adverse, and continuous in the sense required by the applicable local period and the nature of the claimed right.
Supporting sources
…across adjoining property. We do not agree with the defendant's analysis. The doctrine of ancient lights was a doctrine of easement by prescription. The doctrine of ancient lights has no application to this case. The plaintiff is not claiming an easement by prescription. The plaintiff is claiming that the defendant's proposed…