A servitude is a qualified beneficial interest severed or fragmented from the ownership of an inferior property (servient estate) and attached to a superior property (dominant estate) or to some person (personal beneficiary) other than the owner.
The two estates must belong to different bare title holders (dominus nudea proprietatis, i.e. fee simple owners).
The right is for the benefit of the dominant estate rather than the person[3] and remains in effect upon its transfer, that is, it runs with the land and extends to any owner, whether the original or successor-in-title.
In this event, the dominant owner will generally not be indemnified by the land registry for the statutory prescriptive period.
The mixed jurisdictions of Quebec and Louisiana are exceptions due to influence from common law, but under these systems personal servitudes are limited to easements in gross.