Understanding the Power of Dominant Tenement in Real Estate

A dominant tenement is a parcel of land that benefits from an easement over another parcel of land. Typically, the easement enables the owner of the dominant tenement to use part of the neighboring parcel of land, known as the servient tenement.

What Is an Easement?

An easement is a legal right to use another party’s land for a specific, restricted purpose. Easements are critical in property law because they grant specific rights to landowners that might otherwise be limited.

Example of Dominant Tenement

To better understand the concept, let’s consider an illustrative example:

Example: Imagine two adjacent parcels of land, Parcel A and Parcel B. The owner of Parcel A has a right-of-way easement that allows them to cross Parcel B to reach a road. In this scenario, Parcel A is the dominant tenement, as it gains the benefit of the easement, while Parcel B is the servient tenement, as it bears the burden of the easement.

1Dominant Tenement (Parcel A)
2--------------------|
3| ROAD
4| <- RIGHT-OF-WAY 
5------------------- /|\ ----------
6Servient Tenement (Parcel B)

The right-of-way easement allows the owner of Parcel A to have access to the road without trespassing on Parcel B.

Related Terms: easement, servient tenement, right-of-way, land use rights.