Jack buys a farm house. The day after he buys the home he sees Joseph, another farmer going over his property with a pail, towards a nearby stream. Jack is angry that Joseph is walking over his land and he tells Joseph not to do so. Joseph tells him that he has a right to walk over the land to fetch water from the stream. Joseph tells Jack that the right has existed since Joseph's great grandfather purchased the property. This means that Joseph's property is a

Question

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Joseph's right to access the stream over Jack's land is an example of an easement appurtenant. An easement appurtenant exists when the owner of one piece of land (the dominant tenement) has a right to use a part of the neighboring land (the servient tenement) for a specific purpose. In this case, Joseph's property is the dominant tenement and Jack's property is the servient tenement. Since Joseph's right to access the stream has existed since his great grandfather purchased the property, it is likely that the easement is appurtenant and not a statutory easement or right of way. Severance is the act of dividing a larger piece of property into two or more smaller pieces, so that is not relevant to this scenario.

Jack Buys a Farm House