The Greater Burden: Mapping the Lines on the Servient Estate

Servitude law is the cornerstone of much of our economy. While often overlooked, this age-old property law device facilitates the transmission lines that power our homes and industry and the pipelines that enable production and transportation of essential materials, such as oil and gas. And as United States infrastructure ages and environmental concerns increasingly frame property policies, servitude law has adapted—but not always for the clearer.&nbsp;<br><br>Over the last few decades, the American common law treatment of easements, nonpossessory interests in land owned by others, has radically shifted. First in the American Law Institute’s Restatement (Third) of Property: Servitudes, and more recently via the Uniform Law Commission’s Uniform Easement Relocation Act, American common law leaders have advocated permitting unilateral relocation of an easement by the servient estate—an old principle in the civil law tradition. This change was ostensibly made to balance the rights of the servient estate and easement grantee. But it has opened the door to re-examine whether easement grantees should have the same right.&nbsp;<br><br>This Article endeavors to answer this question by addressing the historical evolution of the law in this area, the rights of various stakeholders whose interests are significantly impacted by the concept of drawing new lines across property, and the practical concerns implicated by readjusting easement rights. Ultimately it concludes that easement grantees should be allowed to reasonably relocate their easements unilaterally but only in very rare instances, as courts should interpret any legal ambiguity encountered in exercising this power in favor of landowners.