Voluntary Easements
Voluntary Easements
Art. 688. Every owner of a tenement or piece of land may establish thereon the easements
which he may deem suitable, and in the manner and form which he may deem best,
provided he does not contravene the laws, public policy or public order. (594)
Only the owner or someone else, in the name of and with the authority of the owner, may
establish a voluntary real easement on his estate, for this is an act of ownership
The person to act for the dominant estate must be the owner or somebody else, in the name and
with the authority of the owner
Art. 689. The owner of a tenement or piece of land, the usufruct of which belongs to another,
may impose thereon, without the consent of the usufructuary, any servitudes which will not
injure the right of usufruct. (595)
Art. 690. Whenever the naked ownership of a tenement or piece of land belongs to one person
and the beneficial ownership to another, no perpetual voluntary easement may be established
thereon without the consent of both owners. (596)
1. The beneficial owner may be himself create a temporary easement compatible with the extent
of his beneficial dominion
2. If the easement is perpetual both the naked and beneficial owners must consent
Art. 691. In order to impose an easement on an undivided tenement, or piece of land, the consent
of all the co-owners shall be required.
The consent given by some only, must be held in abeyance until the last one of all the co-owners
shall have expressed his conformity. But the consent given by one of the co-owners separately
from the others shall bind the grantor and his successors not to prevent the exercise of the right
granted. (597a)
Art. 692. The title and, in a proper case, the possession of an easement acquired by prescription
shall determine the rights of the dominant estate and the obligations of the servient estate. In
default thereof, the easement shall be governed by such provisions of this Title as are applicable
thereto. (598)
Art. 693. If the owner of the servient estate should have bound himself, upon the establishment
of the easement, to bear the cost of the work required for the use and preservation thereof, he
may free himself from this obligation by renouncing his property to the owner of the dominant
estate. (599)
In the contract or title, the servient owner may have or may not have bound himself to
pay for the maintenance of the easement
Article only applies when he has bound himself