SERVITUDE

in property law, the obligation or burden attached to certain land for the advantage or benefit of other land. The concept is derived from Roman law and is similar to easement in English common law, except that servitude refers to the burden owed, whereas easement refers to the benefit derived from the servitude. The land burdened with the servitude is referred to as the servient tenement, and the land served by the servitude is the dominant tenement. Land servitudes are either personal or real. Personal servitudes are burdens or obligations owed to a certain person, and, when that person dies, the servitude is extinguished. Real servitudes are obligations owed to land of another, the servitude having been created for the benefit of that land; the servitude is a property right attached to the dominant tenement, generally passing with the land when it is conveyed or devised. European civil law divides real servitudes into rural and urban servitudes, having reference to the nature of the obligation rather than the location of the servitude. Rural servitudes include various rights of way; urban servitudes include building rights, such as rights of support, rights of view, and rights of sewer. Servitudes may be either positive or negative. A positive servitude obligates a landowner to allow a certain use of his property by another. A negative servitude obligates a landowner to refrain from making a certain use of his property, which will serve some benefit to the owner of the dominant tenement. See also restrictive covenant.