Title 21, Real Property

The following land burdens, or servitudes upon land, may be granted and held, though not attached to land: (a) The right to pasture, and of fishing and taking game; (b) The right of a seat in church; (c) The right of burial; (d) The right of taking rents and tolls; (e) The right …

The land to which an easement is attached is called the dominant tenement; the land upon which a burden or servitude is laid is called the servient tenement. SOURCE: CC '803.

A servitude can be created only by one who has a vested estate in the servient tenement. SOURCE: CC '804.

COL120106 A servitude thereon cannot be held by the owner of the servient tenement. SOURCE: CC '805.

The extent of a servitude is determined by the terms of the grant, or the nature of the enjoyment by which it was acquired. SOURCE: CC '806.

In case of partition of the dominant tenement the burden must be apportioned according to the division of the dominant tenement, but not in such a way as to increase the burden upon the servient tenement. SOURCE: CC '807.

The owner of a future estate in a dominant tenement may use easements attached thereto for the purpose of viewing waste, demanding rent, or removing an obstruction to the enjoyment of such easements, although such tenement is occupied by a tenant. SOURCE: CC '808.

The owner of any estate in a dominant tenement, or the occupant of such tenement, may maintain an action for the enforcement of an easement attached thereto. SOURCE: CC '809.

The owner in fee of a servient tenement may maintain an action for the possession of the land, against any one unlawfully possessed thereof, though a servitude exists thereon in favor of the public. SOURCE: CC '810.

A servitude is extinguished: COL120106 (a) By the vesting of the right to the servitude and the right to the servient tenement in the same person; (b) By the destruction of the servient tenement; (c) By the performance of any act upon either tenement, by the owner of the servitud…

The owner of a life estate may use the land in the same manner as the owner of a fee simple, except that he must do no act to the injury of the inheritance. SOURCE: CC '818.

A tenant for years or at will, unless he is a wrongdoer by holding over, may occupy the buildings, take the annual products of the soil, and work mines and quarries open at the commencement of his tenancy. SOURCE: CC '819.

A tenant for years or at will has no other rights to the property than such as are given to him by the agreement or instrument by which his tenancy is acquired, or by the last section. SOURCE: CC '820. COL120106

A person to whom any real property is transferred or devised, upon which rent has been reserved or to whom any such rent is transferred, is entitled to the same remedies for recovery of rent, for nonperformance of any of the terms of the lease or for any waste or cause of forfeit…

Whatever remedies the lessor of any real property has against his immediate lessee for the breach of any agreement in the lease, or for recovery of the possession, he has against the assignees of the lessee, for any cause of action accruing while they are such assignees, except w…

Whatever remedies the lessee of any real property may have against his immediate lessor, for the breach of any agreement in the lease, he may have against the assigns of the lessor, and the assigns of the lessee may have against the lessor, and his assigns, except upon covenants …

Rent due upon a lease for life may be recovered in the same manner as upon a lease for years. SOURCE: CC '824.

Rent dependent on the life of a person may be recovered after, as well as before, his death. SOURCE: CC '825.

A person having an estate in fee, in remainder or reversion, may maintain an action for any injury done to the inheritance, notwithstanding an intervening estate for life or years, and although, after its commission, COL120106 his estate is transferred, and he has no interest in …

In all leases of lands, or tenements, or of any interest therein, from month to month, the landlord may, upon giving notice in writing at least thirty (30) days before the expiration of the month, change the terms of the lease to take effect at the expiration of the month; provid…

The owner of land in fee has the right to the surface and to everything permanently situated beneath or above it, subject to such restrictions as are provided by law. SOURCE: CC '829.

COL120106 Except where the grant under which the land is held indicates a different intent, the owner of the upland, when it borders on tidewater, takes to ordinary high-water mark; when it borders upon a navigable stream, where there is no tide, the owner takes to the edge of th…

An owner of land bounded by a road or street is presumed to own to the center of the way, but the contrary may be shown. SOURCE: CC '831.

Each coterminous owner is entitled to the lateral and subjacent support which his land receives from the adjoining land, subject to the right of the owner of the adjoining land to make proper and usual excavations on the same for purposes of construction, on using ordinary care a…

Trees whose trunks stand wholly upon the land of one owner belong exclusively to him, although their roots grow into the land of another. SOURCE: CC '833.

Trees whose trunks stand partly on the land of two or more coterminous owners, belong to them in common. SOURCE: CC '834. ---------- COL120106 COL120106

The owner of a life estate must keep the buildings and fences in repair from ordinary waste, and must pay the taxes and other annual charges, and a just proportion of extraordinary assessments benefiting the whole inheritance. SOURCE: CC '840.

Coterminous owners are mutually bound equally to maintain: (a) The boundaries and monuments between them; (b) The fences between them, unless one of them chooses to let his land lie without fencing; in which case, if he afterwards encloses it, he must refund to the other a just p…

When two or more persons are associated by agreement in the use of a ditch, flume, pipe line, or other conduit for the conveyance of water, or who are using such ditch, flume, pipe line, or other conduit, or any part thereof, for the irrigation of land or for any other lawful pur…

If any one of them neglects, after demand in writing, to pay his proportion of such expenses, he is liable therefor in an action for COL120106 contribution, and in any judgment obtained against him interest from the time of such demand may be included. The action authorized by th…

No trust in relation to real property is valid unless created or declared. 1. By a written instrument, subscribed by the trustee, or by his agent thereto authorized by writing; 2. By the instrument under which the trustee claims the estate affected; or 3. By operation of law. SOU…

When a transfer of real property is made to one person, and the consideration therefor is paid by or for another, a trust is presumed to result in favor of the person by or for whom such payment is made. SOURCE: CC '853.

No implied or resulting trust can prejudice the rights of a purchaser or encumbrancer of real property for value and without notice of the trust. SOURCE: CC '856. COL120106

Whenever any conveyance or deed of trust relating to real property or any interest therein is given as security for money loaned, and such conveyance contains a power of sale, or a right in the vendor to repurchase, such conveyance or deed of trust shall be held and considered a …

Where a trust is created to receive the rents and profits of real property, and no valid direction for accumulation is given, the surplus of such rents and profits, beyond the sum that may be necessary for the education and support of the person for whose benefit the trust is cre…

Where a power is vested in several persons, all must unite in its execution; but in case any one (1) or more of them is dead, the power may be executed by the survivor or survivors, unless otherwise prescribed by the terms of the power. SOURCE: CC '860.

Except as hereinafter otherwise provided, every express trust in real property, valid as such in its creation, vests the whole estate in the trustees, subject only to the execution of the trust. The beneficiaries take no estate or interest in the property, but may enforce the per…

Notwithstanding anything contained in the last section, the author of a trust may, in its creation, prescribe to whom the real property to which the trust relates shall belong, in the event of the failure or termination of the trust, and may transfer or devise such property, subj…

The grantee or devisee of real property subject to a trust acquires a legal estate in the property, as against all persons except the trustees and those lawfully claiming under them. SOURCE: CC '865.

Where an express trust is created in relation to real property, every estate not embraced in the trust, and not otherwise disposed of, is left in the author of the trust or his successors. SOURCE: CC '866.

The beneficiary of a trust for the receipt of the rents and profits of real property, or for the payment of an annuity out of such rents and profits, may be restrained from disposing of his interest in such trust, during his life or for a term of years, by the instrument creating…

Where an express trust is created in relation to real property, but is not contained or declared in the grant to the trustee, or in an instrument signed by him, and recorded in the same office with the grant to the trustee, such grant must be deemed absolute in favor of purchaser…

Whenever a conveyance of real estate, or any interest therein, has been or hereafter is made to a person or persons in trust, or (a) where such person is designated trustee or as trustee, or (b) where such persons are designated trustees or as trustees, and regardless of whether …

Where a trust in relation to real property is expressed in the instrument creating the estate every transfer or other act of the trustees, in contravention of the trust, is absolutely void. SOURCE: CC '870.

When the purpose for which an express trust was created ceases, the estate of the trustee also ceases. SOURCE: CC '871. ---------- COL120106 COL120106