dominant estate

Where a restriction on use of one piece of real property is imposed in order to confer a benefit upon the owner of another, the former is called the servient estate and the latter the dominant estate. For example, if ownership of one field confers upon its owner the easement or right to walk across the field of a neighbor in order to reach the highway, the field whose owner has that right is the dominant estate and that which may be crossed is the servient estate.

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