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Property Law Keyed to Dukeminier

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Property Keyed to French

Van Sandt v. Royster

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Facts

The Plaintiff owns lot 19 and the Defendant owns lot 20. Both lots were part of the adjacent estate, lot 4, which was owned by Bailey in 1903-1904 and is now owned by Gray. Bailey constructed the pipe in late 1903 or early 1904 for the common benefit of all three lots. At that time, it was all one property so there is no dominant / servient estate. Lot 19 was conveyed in January 1904 and Lot 20 was also conveyed in 1904. The original conveyee of Van Sandt’s land was aware of the lateral sewer.

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Q.1 - At severance, the common grantor’s residence had indoor plumbing visibly tied to the municipal main; the lateral was buried across the now-servient parcel with no surface markers. Under Van Sandt, which statement most precisely captures why “apparent and continuous” is satisfied?

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(A) Apparency fails because subterranean conditions are never observable to a reasonable purchaser.

Incorrect. This is wrong: The case rejects a visibility-only rule for underground utilities.

(B) Apparency turns on actual knowledge; without the grantor’s disclosure, the burden cannot bind successors.

Incorrect. This is wrong: Actual knowledge is unnecessary where inquiry notice suffices.

(C) Apparency is satisfied only if the lateral’s trench line was physically visible at conveyance.

Incorrect. This is wrong: Physical trench visibility is not required to meet the apparent-use element.

(D) Apparency is met where ordinary inspection and reasonable inquiry (given visible fixtures and municipal tie-ins) would reveal the functional likelihood of a buried lateral continuously serving the dominant parcel.

Correct! Van Sandt treats “apparent” as including uses discoverable upon ordinary inspection and reasonable inquiry—visible plumbing and municipal tie-ins put a purchaser on inquiry notice of a continuous subterranean lateral. This doctrinal move anchors apparency in constructive notice, not mere surface visibility.

Q.2 - Assume O owns Parcels A (dominant in use) and B (servient path). O first conveys B to S by deed silent on drains, retaining A; years later S conveys to V, a bona fide purchaser without actual knowledge. A’s house has long-standing indoor plumbing and municipal connection predating the severance. Which outcome aligns with Van Sandt’s sequencing and running-with-the-land analysis?

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(A) The implied easement by reservation arose at O→S (severance) and binds V because prior, continuous, and reasonably necessary use was apparent on inquiry, notwithstanding nonrecordation.

Correct! Because the common grantor severed title while the quasi-easement existed, an easement by reservation arose and runs with the land to burden B and benefit A’s successors when the use was apparent, continuous, and reasonably necessary. Van Sandt enforces such reservations against later purchasers despite silence in the deed where inquiry notice is present.

(B) No easement arises because a reservation must be explicit to burden Blackacre against a bona fide purchaser.

Incorrect. This is wrong: The doctrine recognizes implied reservations without express language if the elements are met.

(C) Only a strict-necessity easement could arise, and indoor plumbing is not “strictly necessary.”

Incorrect. This is wrong: Prior-use easements require “reasonable necessity,” not strict necessity.

(D) Any prior use easement terminates upon S’s subsequent conveyance unless re-reserved in the S→V deed.

Incorrect. This is wrong: Once created at severance, the easement runs with the land; no re-reservation on later conveyances is required.

Q.3 - Suppose after severance the dominant owner connects an additional dwelling (not served at the time of severance) to the same buried lateral, increasing peak flows. Under Van Sandt’s conception of implied easements, what best states the rule on scope?

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(A) Scope freely expands with any beneficial use to the dominant estate because implied easements are elastic.

Incorrect. This is wrong: Elastic, unlimited expansion contradicts the severance-fixed scope principle.

(B) Scope is fixed to the precise physical capacity at installation; any increment voids the easement.

Incorrect. This is wrong: A rigid capacity freeze ignores ordinary, foreseeable growth consistent with the original use.

(C) Scope is limited to the kind and intensity reasonably contemplated at severance; nontrivial, unreasonable surcharges are barred, though de minimis, foreseeable increases incidental to the established use may be permissible.

Correct! The scope of an implied easement is pegged to the nature and reasonable intensity of the use at severance; modest, foreseeable increases incidental to that use may be allowed, but material surcharges that unreasonably burden the servient estate are not. This preserves the reliance-based allocation struck at severance while preventing opportunistic expansion.

(D) Scope collapses into strict necessity; any increase beyond survival needs extinguishes the servitude.

Incorrect. This is wrong: The doctrine does not collapse into strict necessity; the test is reasonable necessity and contemplated use.

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Van Sandt v. Royster