Opinion ID: 1264477
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Recognition of Claim

Text: While other authorities plainly identify easements by prior use, necessity, and prescription as three types of easements, South Carolina case law has not clearly distinguished between these types of easements. See 25 Am.Jur.2d Easements and Licenses 22, 30, 39 (generally describing easements by prior use, necessity, and prescription). Moreover, although easements by implication have been recognized in South Carolina, an easement implied by prior use has never been explicitly recognized. The intent of the parties, as shown by all the facts and circumstances under which a conveyance was made, may give rise to an easement by implication. Hamilton v. CCM, Inc., 274 S.C. 152, 158, 263 S.E.2d 378, 381 (1980). Whatever easements are created by implication must be determined as of the time of the severance of the ownership of the tracts involved. Clemson Univ. v. First Provident Corp., 260 S.C. 640, 652, 197 S.E.2d 914, 920 (1973). Easements may be implied by necessity, by prior use, from map or boundary references, or from a general plan. 25 Am.Jur.2d Easements and Licenses 20-22, 30 (describing the different types of implied easements); Restatement (Third) Property: Servitudes §§ 2.11-.15 (2000 & Supp.2006) (same); see, e.g., Carolina Land Co. v. Bland, 265 S.C. 98, 217 S.E.2d 16 (1975) (when a grantor lays out a tract of land in streets and lots on a plat and sells those lots by deeds referring to the plat, normally the legal effect is the creation and conveyance of implied easements in the streets to the grantees); McAllister v. Smiley, 301 S.C. 10, 389 S.E.2d 857 (1990) (easement implied where the deed described the tract of land as bounded by a street and the deed referred to the plat on which the street was indicated but the deed did not mention an easement); Brasington v. Williams, 143 S.C. 223, 141 S.E. 375 (1927) (easement implied by necessity where the grantee was without an express easement or right of way to a public highway); see generally Brasington, 143 S.C. at 245, 141 S.E. at 382 (There seems to have been nine methods recognized under the common law for the creation of an easement, namely, by grant, estoppel, way of a necessity, implication, dedication, prescription, ancient window doctrine, reservation, or condemnation.) (citing Davis v. Robinson, 189 N.C. 589, 127 S.E. 697 (1925)). The party asserting the right to an easement implied by prior use must establish the following: (1) unity of title; (2) severance of title; (2) the prior use was in existence at the time of unity of title; (3) the prior use was not merely temporary or casual; (4) the prior use was apparent or known to the parties; (5) the prior use was necessary in that there could be no other reasonable mode of enjoying the dominant tenement without the prior use; and (6) the common grantor indicated an intent to continue the prior use after severance of title. See Elliott v. Rhett, 39 S.C.L. (5 Rich.) 405 (1852) (Apart from all considerations of time, there is implied, upon the severance of a heritage, a grant of all those continuous and apparent easements, which have in fact been used by the owner during the unity, though they have had no legal existence as easements. . . .); [2] Crosland, 32 S.C. at 133, 10 S.E. at 875 (implicitly recognizing an easement implied by prior use where there has been a unity of possession and a subsequent sale of a portion of the land over which the easement is claimed, that said easement must have been apparent, continuous, and necessary at the time of said sale, the term `necessary' meaning that there could be no other reasonable mode of enjoying the dominant tenement without this easement); [3] see also Merrimon v. McCain, 201 S.C. 76, 82, 21 S.E.2d 404, 407 (1942), overruled on other grounds by Jowers v. Hornsby, 292 S.C. 549, 551-52, 357 S.E.2d 710, 711 (1987) (plaintiff sought an easement based on three grounds: (1) the easement was visible, apparent, and appurtenant to the property, (2) the easement was implied by necessity, and (3) easement by prescription). [4] The party asserting the right of an easement by necessity must demonstrate: (1) unity of title, (2) severance of title, and (3) necessity. Kennedy v. Bedenbaugh, 352 S.C. 56, 60, 572 S.E.2d 452, 454 (2002). To establish a prescriptive easement, the party asserting the right must show: (1) continued use for 20 years, (2) the identity of the thing enjoyed, and (3) use which is either adverse or under a claim of right. Horry County v. Laychur, 315 S.C. 364, 367, 434 S.E.2d 259, 261 (1993); Shia v. Pendergrass, 222 S.C. 342, 351, 72 S.E.2d 699, 703 (1952). When the claimant has established that the use was open, notorious, continuous, and uninterrupted, the use will be presumed to have been adverse. Poole v. Edwards, 197 S.C. 280, 283, 15 S.E.2d 349, 350 (1941). A prescriptive easement is not implied by law but is established by the conduct of the dominant tenement owner; however, easements by prior use and by necessity are implied by law. Clemson Univ., 260 S.C. at 652, 197 S.E.2d at 919; 12 S.C. Jur. Easements 10; 25 Am.Jur.2d Easements and Licenses 22, 30. An easement by necessity does not require a preexisting use during unity of title; whereas an easement by prior use does impose this requirement. 25 Am.Jur.2d Easements and Licenses § 32; 28A C.J.S. Easements § 92. An easement implied by prior use will not be extinguished if the easement is no longer necessary, but an easement by necessity will be extinguished once the necessity ends. 25 Am.Jur.2d Easements and Licenses §§ 29, 35. Easements by prescription, implied by prior use, and implied by necessity have different elements and are applicable to different factual scenarios; thus, an easement implied by prior use has not been subsumed by other types of easements. Regardless of whether an easement implied by prior use was originally recognized in a water drainage situation, this does not prevent its application in other circumstances.