Property Law Flashcards

An easement by necessity is created when a parcel is conveyed in a manner that leaves the grantee's land completely surrounded by other parcels. The easement is justified by:

Answer: Implied intent of the parties and public policy favoring land use

Easements by necessity are implied from the circumstances of the conveyance and public policy that land should not be rendered inaccessible.

To establish a prescriptive easement in Georgia, the claimant must show use that is open, continuous, and adverse for a period of:

Answer: 20 years

Georgia requires 20 years of open, notorious, continuous, and adverse use to establish a prescriptive easement.

An easement appurtenant differs from an easement in gross in that an easement appurtenant:

Answer: Benefits a specific parcel of land (dominant estate)

An easement appurtenant benefits and runs with a dominant estate, while an easement in gross benefits a specific person with no dominant estate.

A real covenant that runs with the land at law requires which of the following elements for the burden to bind successors?

Answer: Intent, touch and concern, horizontal and vertical privity, and notice

For a covenant's burden to run at law, courts require intent, that the covenant touch and concern the land, horizontal privity between original parties, vertical privity from original covenantor to successor, and notice.

Tacking in adverse possession allows a claimant to add a predecessor's period of possession to her own. Tacking is permitted only when:

Answer: There is privity of possession between the successive occupants

Tacking requires privity of possession — a voluntary transfer of the disputed tract from one adverse possessor to the next.

An equitable servitude, unlike a real covenant, may be enforced in equity by or against successors when the party seeking enforcement shows:

Answer: Intent, touch and concern, and notice (no privity required)

Equitable servitudes dispense with the privity requirement, requiring only that the restriction was intended to run, touches and concerns the land, and that successors had notice.

When an easement holder's use of the easement exceeds the scope originally granted, the servient estate owner's proper remedy is typically:

Answer: Injunction limiting use to the original scope

Overuse of an easement does not extinguish it but subjects the holder to injunctive relief limiting use to the originally granted scope.