The land or property which is burdened was called the servient tenement.

An easement can not be recognised where it the dominant and servient tenement are under common ownership.

The servient tenement owner claimed the car parking took away his use of the land, and so could not be an easement.

The former term used was 'servient tenement'.

Praedial servitudes are indivisible; they are imposed on the whole of the servient tenement.

A legal easement must be registered against both the dominant and servient tenements, if their titles are registered, in order to take effect.

Where both the dominant and servient tenements are registered, easements must be registered against both titles under the terms of the Land Registration Act 1925.

Personal and praedial servitudes are created through agreement between the owner of the dominant tenement and the owner of the servient tenement.

Where a right has long been enjoyed by a land owner, it may be prescribed as an easement following a dispute by the owner of the servient tenement.

Where the servient tenement is registered, the registration of an equitable easement at the Land Registry can take place through mere notice or caution and will then bind purchasers.

A servient estate (or servient premises or servient tenement) is contrasted with a dominant estate (or dominant premises).

An equitable easement when the servient tenement is unregistered is enforceable against a purchaser for value only when properly registered under the terms of the Land Charges Act 1972.

The party gaining the benefit of the easement is the dominant estate (or dominant tenement), while the party granting the burden is the servient estate (or servient tenement).

In line with the rule of vicinity (vicinitas), the tenements must be close enough to each other for the servient tenement to be able reasonably to enhance the use and enjoyment of the dominant tenement.

Many claimed rights fail this last criterion, for example, rights which require positive action by the owner of a servient tenement are unlikely to be granted, as are negative rights, which restrict the use of land.

Positive servitudes confer on the servitude-holder the entitlement "to enter upon the servient proprietor's land to do something positive," to perform a positive act; negative servitudes restrict the entitlements of the owner of the servient tenement.

They are vested in successive owners of one piece of land, called the dominant tenement, which derives a benefit from another piece of land, the servient tenement, belonging to someone other than the owner of the dominant tenement.

An instrument that imposes a negative obligation on another tenement will normally be a restrictive covenant, although there are exceptions - the right to light, capable of being an easement, acts to prevent the owner of the servient tenement from acting inconsistently with it.

For example, if a servient tenement holder were to erect a fence blocking a legally deeded right-of-way easement, the dominant tenement holder would have to act to defend his easement rights during the statutory period or the easement might cease to have legal force, even though it would remain a deeded document.