What is an easement (servitude) in French property law?

The legal definition: a burden on one property for the benefit of another

Article 637 of the French Civil Code defines an easement as a charge imposed on a property for the use and benefit of a property belonging to another owner. The plot that bears the burden is called the servient land (fonds servant); the plot that benefits from it is the dominant land (fonds dominant). A right of way, an easement of view or a pipe crossing the neighbouring plot all fall under this mechanism.

An easement is a real right in land: it attaches to the plots themselves and not to the persons who own them. It therefore follows the property through every transfer: the buyer of the servient land bears it, the buyer of the dominant land benefits from it, without any clause in the deed of sale being needed to keep it alive. Unless a ground of extinction applies, it is meant to last as long as the two plots exist.

Statutory easements, contractual easements and destination du père de famille

Article 639 of the French Civil Code distinguishes easements by their origin: the natural lie of the land, obligations imposed by statute, or agreements between owners.

• Natural easements derive from the configuration of the land, such as the natural run-off of rainwater from the higher plot to the lower plot (Article 640 of the French Civil Code).
• Statutory easements are imposed by law in the interest of the owners: right of way in case of landlocked land (Article 682), distances for views (Articles 675 to 680), or party-wall rules.
• Contractual easements are freely created by agreement between owners, within the limits of public policy (Article 686): a right of way of convenience, a no-building restriction (non aedificandi), a height limit, a shared courtyard.
• Destination du père de famille (Articles 692 to 694) creates an easement where a single owner sets up a visible sign of an easement between two parts of his land and then divides that land: the arrangement stands as a title between the new owners unless the deed of division excludes it.

The effects: a right attached to the property, not to its owner

The owner of the servient land may do nothing that tends to diminish the use of the easement or make it more inconvenient: he may neither change the state of the premises nor unilaterally move where the easement is exercised, unless he offers the dominant land a spot that is just as convenient (Article 701 of the French Civil Code).

The owner of the dominant land may carry out the works needed to use and preserve the easement, but at his own expense, unless the title places maintenance on the servient land (Articles 697 and 698). He may do nothing that worsens the condition of the servient land (Article 702).

Because it durably restricts the use of the property, an easement can weigh on its value: a no-building restriction or a path crossing a garden generally shows in the price. That impact is assessed case by case at valuation stage.

Easements thus fall into three broad families: natural or statutory easements (Articles 640 et seq. and 675 to 685-1 of the French Civil Code), such as water run-off, right of way for landlocked land or distances for views; contractual easements (Article 686), such as a right of way of convenience, a non aedificandi restriction or a shared courtyard; and easements by destination du père de famille (Articles 692 to 694), such as a path or a pipe laid out before a single plot was divided.