An easement is terminated by which of the following when the dominant and servient land are owned and possessed by the same person?

• A. By statute
• B. By release (intentional abandonment)
• C. By unity of ownership and possession
• D. By creation of a new easement

Answer: (C)

The essential idea is that an easement relies on two distinct parcels: a dominant tenement that benefits the easement and a servient tenement that is burdened by it. When the same person owns and possesses both parcels, there is no longer a separate servient to burden or a separate dominant to benefit, so the right ceases to have any function. This is termination by unity of ownership and possession (merger of the two estates). It happens automatically, without the need for a release or statute. Other ways to end an easement exist—such as a voluntary release or statutory change—but with unified ownership, the mechanism at work is the merger of the estates.