The plaintiff sought damages after the interruption of the electricity supply from neighbouring land by the defendant. An easement was established, but the defendant wanted the plaintiff to make his own arrangements for connection. The judge had held that the easement included connection to the existing electricity supply.
Held: The defendant had taken steps to discontinue the supply to his own land: ‘ the easement extends not only to the supply of water and electricity, but to gas, telephone and the disposal of foul or surface water. It is plain that a right to the free passage of foul or surface water through sewage or drainage pipes under the servient tenement necessarily includes the right to have that foul or surface water enter the servient land from the dominant land. By a parity of reasoning, the right to an uninterrupted passage of water and electricity running the other way from outside the servient land through the servient land to the dominant land, necessarily involves the right to have the uninterrupted passage of water and electricity, not only through the servient tenement until it reaches the dominant land but also to the servient tenement. In my judgment the obligation of a servient owner is to take no positive step to prevent the entry of water or electricity onto his land as well as its subsequent passage through the servient land to the dominant land.’
Judges:
Millett LJ
Citations:
[1997] EWCA Civ 1373, (1997) 75 P and CR 364, [1997] NPC 52, [1997] EG 50
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Explained – Rance v Elvin CA 14-Feb-1985
The plaintiff complained that he had an easement over the defendants land for the supply of water, including the right to connect into the mains on the defendant’s land. The defendant said that the right was only to connect to the mains directly. . .
Cited – Schwann v Cotton CA 1916
Blackacre, Greenacre and Whiteacre had all formerly been in common ownership and the owner of Whiteacre denied that Blackacre was entitled to an easement to pass the water from Greenacre to Blackacre.
Held: The Will which effected’ the . .
Cited by:
Cited – Regency Villas Title Ltd and Others v Diamond Resorts (Europe) Ltd and Another CA 4-Apr-2017
Can a recreational purpose underlie an easement
The court considered the validity of easements of recreational facilities. A property had been developed with timeshare leases within a substantial and attractive grounds area. Later a second development was created but with freehold interests, but . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Land
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.141769
