Legal Definitions - discontinuous easement

A discontinuous easement is a legal right that allows someone to use another person's land, but this right is not continuously exercised or visible. Instead, it requires a specific human action or intervention each time it is used. Unlike easements that involve a permanent, always-present physical feature or activity on the land (like a sewer line), a discontinuous easement depends on an active step being taken by the person who holds the right.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Right to Draw Water: Imagine a situation where a homeowner, Ms. Rodriguez, has a legal right to cross her neighbor's property to access a natural spring and collect water for her garden. This is a discontinuous easement because Ms. Rodriguez must actively walk onto her neighbor's land and draw water each time she wishes to exercise this right. The act of collecting water is not continuous; it only occurs when she chooses to perform it.

• Right to Drive Livestock: Consider a rancher, Mr. Chen, who has an easement allowing him to drive his cattle across a specific portion of his neighbor's pasture to reach a larger grazing area, but only during the spring and fall migrations. This easement is discontinuous because Mr. Chen's right is exercised only at particular times of the year and requires the active movement of his cattle across the neighbor's land. It's not a constant flow of activity or a permanent fixture; it depends on his specific actions during those seasons.

• Right to Temporarily Store Materials: A small landscaping company, Green Thumb Inc., has an easement to temporarily store mulch, soil, and tools on an unused corner of an adjacent commercial property for the duration of a specific landscaping project next door. This is a discontinuous easement because the right to store materials is not constant. It requires Green Thumb Inc. to actively bring and place materials on the property, and then remove them once the project is complete. The use is intermittent and dependent on their specific project activities, rather than being a continuous presence.