Also known as: praedii dominantis · dominant tenement · dominant estate
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An estate that benefits from a servitude over another parcel of land. The benefit attaches to the land itself and passes automatically to successors in interest who hold any possessory or leasehold interest in the benefited parcel.
Pierce Patterson acquired a prescriptive right to drive tractors across Paige Porter's field to reach irrigation pumps on his farm. After Patterson's death the farm was subdivided and leased to three tenant farmers. Each tenant may continue using the track because the right belongs to the land rather than to any single owner.
LandCo's service trucks used a narrow lane across Neighbor's lot for twenty years to reach cable vaults. A court recognized the resulting prescriptive easement as appurtenant to LandCo's parcel. When LandCo later leased suites to FiberNet and other carriers, each tenant became entitled to use the lane within the established scope.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Old Mill conveyed an adjacent parcel to Apex Components by deed granting the right to draw cooling water from a reservoir canal. The deed contained no time limit or personal restriction. When Old Mill later sold the factory parcel to Northline Manufacturing, Apex retained the right to draw water because the easement runs with the benefited land.
Will and Jean Brown owned parcel B and held an easement across the Voss property for access. Brown later acquired an adjacent parcel C that lacked its own access right. The court held that the easement could not be used to reach parcel C because the benefit is confined to the original dominant estate.
A county board approved a confined animal feeding operation on land subject to an easement benefiting neighboring parcels. The easement holders argued that the new use unreasonably interfered with their rights. The court treated the benefited parcels as the dominant estates whose owners could enforce the servitude against the changed use on the servient land.
A recorded restriction limited lot D to residential use for the benefit of nearby lots. The owner of lot D erected a building for the sale of ice cream and dairy products. Owners of the benefited lots, as holders of the dominant estates, obtained an injunction because the new use exceeded the scope of the servitude.
No. The benefit attaches to the land itself and automatically passes to every successor in interest, including tenants and wrongful possessors, for so long as the easement continues.
Supporting sources
Each subdivided parcel continues to enjoy the easement so long as the use does not unreasonably increase the burden on the servient land. The right is not limited to any single portion of the original dominant tract.
Supporting sources
Yes. The manner, frequency, and intensity of use may change over time to take advantage of technological developments and normal growth of the benefited enterprise, provided the change does not cause unreasonable damage or interference with the servient estate.
Supporting sources
No. When an easement is created by inter vivos conveyance without an express time limit or personal restriction, the law treats its duration the same way it treats estates in land, producing an interest of indefinite duration that runs with both dominant and servient parcels.
Supporting sources
…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 prevent plaintiffs from using an easement appurtenant to gain access to a nondominant estate adjacent to the dominant estate. We reverse and remand…