Real Property Study for the Bar

Fixtures

A fixture is chattel that has been so affixed to land that it has  ceased being personal property and has become part of the realty. A fixture passes with ownership of the land.

Common Ownership – Is where the individual owns both the chattel and the structure that it is attached to. That item is a fixture is the objective intention of the party who made the “annexation” was to make the item part of the realty. Intention is determined by the nature of the item, manner of attachment, amount of damage caused to the realty by removal, and the adaptation of the item to the use of the realty.

 

Rights in the Land of Another

Easements – The right to use another's land for a special purpose. Presumed to be for a perpetual duration.

Two types of easements

Affirmative Easements -  Holder is entitled to make affirmative use of the servient tenement.

Negative Easements – Holder is entitled to compel the servient tenement to refrain from engaging in an activity on the servient estate. Four types of Negative Easements: Light, Air, Lateral and Subjacent Support, and flow of an artificial stream.

Easement Appurtenant – Must be two tracts of land, the dominant and servient. Passes with the land

Easement in Gross – Benefits the holder of the easement rather than a holder of land. i.e. right to swim