defines a negative easement as "[a]n easement that prohibits the
recognized only four kinds of negative easements: prohibitions on
In this regard, it is helpful to differentiate between positive and negative easements. Positive easements are rights which allow the dominant owner to make use of or install certain facilities on the servient owner's land.
Negative easements claimed by prescription have been problematic.
Suppose that Oceanside is a public park (not a private estate) and that it is abutted by 100 private property owners, each of whom enjoys a negative easement appurtenant (an antiproperty easement) blocking any development in Oceanside.
Second, and more importantly, formalizing the neighbors' interests into formal negative easements creates a new element in conservation of the threatened park: a network of antiproperty rights.
They are holders of property benefitted by a
negative easement created by restrictions which burden the Reservation property.
(130.) For a definition of "
negative easement," see supra note 125.
primarily
negative easements, run in perpetuity, are transferable, and
Unlike common law
negative easements, however, conservation easements--which are almost always in gross, negative easements--may be placed on property without regard for the denial of light, air, or support, and are generally allowed to continue into perpetuity.
regulations resemble those of grantees under
negative easements. (131)
In recognition of certain problems with state common law as it pertains to easements of this type, referred to as easements "in gross" under common law (benefitting an individual or the public rather than any specific parcel of land and therefore usually ending with the death of the grantee), and also known as
negative easements (restricting the owner from certain uses on his own land), in 1981 the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws provided a Uniform Conservation Easement Act (UCEA) (16) as a suggestion for state legislatures to authorize statutes providing for conservation easements, making them enforceable if the statutory requirements are met.
