A BRIEF ON THE INDIAN EASEMENT ACT, 1882

‘An easement is a right which the owner or occupier of a land, for such beneficial enjoyment of that land has, to do or continue to do an act or to prevent or continue to prevent something from happening, in or upon or in respect of any other land, not his own.’

-Section 4, Indian Easement Act, 1882.

There are certain essentials that need to be present for easementry rights to be provided to any individual, over any property. These have been laid down in the case of Nirmala Devi & Ors v. Ram Sahai & Ors. 

These are as follows-

1. Such a right should be exercised by the owner or occupier of any property;
2. It should be exercised only for the beneficial enjoyment of such property;
3. The purpose would be to perform or continue to perform an act or prevent and continue to prevent any act for such beneficial enjoyment;
4. The act should be either in or upon or in respect of any other land;
5. Such land should not be be occupied or owner by such person. 

There are two important aspects connected to the grant of easementry rights i.e. dominant heritage & dominant owner, and serviant land & serviant owner.

The land on which the occupier or the owner exercises his or her easementry right, for the beneficial enjoyment of his or her own land, then such a land is considered as serviant heritage, and the person who owns such land is referred to as the serviant owner. 

Dominant heritage refers to the land for the beneficial enjoyment of which the easementry right is granted. In such a case, the owner of this land is referred to as the dominant owner. 

Section 5 and 8 of the Indian Easement Act, 1882 provide three types of easementry rights. Section 5 provides for positive/negative easementry rights, and continuous/discontinuous easementry rights whereas section 8 provides for apparent/ non-apparent easementry rights. 

1. POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EASEMENTRY RIGHTS-

Positive easementry rights allow the dominant owner to do or continue to do something or any act on the serviant heritage; negative easementry rights enable the dominant owner to prevent or continue to prevent any act from happening on the serviant land.

2. CONTINUOUS AND DISCONTINUOUS EASEMENTRY RIGHTS-

Continuous easements are those, which do not require any human intervention to exercise them over the serviant land; discontinuous easements involve human interference to exercise the easementry right over the serviant land. 

3. APPARENT/NON-APPARENT EASEMENTRY RIGHTS-

Where there are certain indications or signs which show that an easementry right is apparent, and can be exercised, such easements are known as apparent easementry rights. These are identified only through their careful inspection.

Non-apparent rights are those which can be identified even if there are no specific or apparent indications or signs existing for the easement to be exercised over the serviant land.