182 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



of the dominant estate, to the new grantee or to the heir-at- 

 law as one of the appurtenances of the estate. 



An easement must not be confounded with a mere per- 

 sonal license. I may say to my neighbor, " You may walk 

 across my mowing lot to reach your pasture as often as you 

 wish ; " but such permission or license is revocable at any 

 moment, and lacks more than one of the essentials of a 

 valid easement. And it is instantly revocable, even if the 

 licensee has expended money in making a comfortable path 

 or in building a convenient bridge over the brook which 

 the path may chance to cross. 



Rights of Way. 



Of all easements those relating to private ways are of 

 highest importance. 



A private way may be acquired in three ways only : (1) 

 by express grant from the owner ; (2) by prescription, /.e., 

 twenty years' adverse possession; (3) by necessity. The 

 last is so unusual a source of this right as to require only a 

 passing notice. If you were to sell one lot out of your farm 

 entirely surrounded by your remaining land, the law would 

 give the purchaser a right by necessity to reach his land 

 over yours, even though nothing were said about it in the 

 conveyance, but this right would cease when the necessity 

 ceased ; for instance, if a new highway were to be laid out, 

 touching the lot enjoying the right of way, the easement 

 would cease, even though greatly to the inconvenience of the 

 owner of that lot, by increasing the distance he would have 

 to travel or the grades he must surmount. 



Easements by express grant or deed are of course to be 

 preferred. Properly recorded in the county registry, their 

 validity rests on the firmest of foundations, and their value 

 becomes greatly enhanced. But the grant is very carefully 

 limited to its original purpose. A way granted for a par- 

 ticular use can be used only for that purpose. Thus, the 

 granting of a narrow passageway for the carrying and re- 

 carrying of wood can not be held to convey the right to 

 drive teams over it for cartage of hay or grain. Teams will 

 not be allowed to pass over a right of way granted for foot 

 passengers ; and a right of way to reach farm land for the 



