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How do servitudes in civil-law systems compare with easements and covenants in Anglo-American law?
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Property law
Portrait of Hugo de Groot (Hugo Grotius), oil on panel by the workshop of Michiel Janszoon van Mierevelt, 1631; in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
In Anglo-American property law, servitudes are devices that tie rights and obligations to land, ensuring they "run with the land" to successive owners. This category encompasses easements, which grant rights to use another’s land for specific purposes, and covenants, which impose affirmative or negative obligations on landowners.1
In contrast, modern civil-law systems—derived from Roman law—maintain a more restrictive approach to servitudes. Key differences include:12
- Scope of Obligations: Civil law generally does not recognize a category corresponding to the Anglo-American affirmative real covenant; there is typically no mechanism to compel a servient owner to perform an act.2
- Beneficiaries: In many civil-law jurisdictions, such as France, a servitude must benefit a dominant tenement (a piece of land) rather than a person. While German law is broader and allows for personal benefits, these are often limited to the beneficiary's lifetime.2
- Usage: Servitude law is used less extensively in civil-law countries than in Anglo-American jurisdictions, largely because civil-law systems historically developed public land-use controls earlier.2
- Creation: While French law uses methods similar to Anglo-American easements, German law relies more heavily on land registries (Grundbuch) rather than prescription or implication.2