Easements and the Right of Way: How They Are Created and Enforced (2026)

How-to · Property Law · Easements

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

An easement is a right over someone else’s land for the better enjoyment of your own, and the most common one is a right of way, the right to pass over a neighbour’s land. Under the Indian Easements Act, 1882, such a right can arise by grant, by long use (prescription), or by necessity. This guide explains what an easement is, how a right of way is created, and how disputes over it are resolved. Last verified October 2026.

01The problem: access and use over a neighbour’s land

Land does not always have its own direct access to a road, water or light. A plot may be landlocked behind another’s field, or a family may have used a path across a neighbour’s land for generations. When relations sour, the neighbour blocks the path or the drain, and the owner is suddenly cut off.

These disputes are among the most common in rural and semi-urban India. The law of easements decides whether a person has a legal right to that access or use, or only a permission that can be withdrawn. Knowing how the right arises is the key to protecting it.

02What an easement is

Section 4 of the Indian Easements Act, 1882 defines an easement as a right which the owner or occupier of land possesses, for the beneficial enjoyment of that land, to do and continue to do something, or to prevent and continue to prevent something being done, in or upon other land not his own. The land that enjoys the right is the dominant tenement; the land that bears the burden is the servient tenement.

Common easements include a right of way, a right to light and air, a right to the flow of water through a channel, and a right of support. The right attaches to the land, not to the person, so it passes with ownership of the dominant tenement.

03How a right of way is created

A right of way, or any easement, can arise in a few recognised ways:

• By express grant: the owner of the servient land grants the right in a deed. A grant of a permanent right over immovable property should be in writing and registered.
• By necessity (Section 13): when land is transferred, bequeathed or partitioned, and one part cannot be used at all without a right over the other, the law implies an easement of necessity. The test is absolute necessity, not mere convenience.
• Quasi-easements (Section 13): continuous and apparent easements that were in use at the time of transfer may pass with the land, unless a contrary intention appears.
• By prescription (Section 15): long, open and uninterrupted use as of right, over the period the Act sets, ripens into an easement.
• By custom: a customary right enjoyed by a community, independent of any dominant tenement, recognised by Section 18.

Which route applies decides what the claimant must prove. A grant needs a document; necessity needs a transfer or partition; prescription needs long use.

04Easement by prescription: the 20 year rule

Section 15 lets a right of way (and certain other easements) be acquired by prescription. The enjoyment must be peaceable, open, as of right, and without interruption, for twenty years. Where the servient property belongs to the Government, the period is thirty years.

To win a right of way by prescription you must show open, peaceable and uninterrupted use as of right for twenty years, ending within two years before you file the suit.

There is a timing rule that catches many claimants. The twenty (or thirty) year period must be one ending within two years immediately before the suit in which the right is claimed is filed. So a person who stopped using the path years ago cannot suddenly sue on an old period of use. Use that was merely permissive, allowed as a favour rather than claimed as a right, does not count. Courts have refused prescriptive claims where the use was only by the owner’s leave.

05Resolving a right-of-way dispute

When a right of way is blocked or denied, the usual remedy is a civil suit. In outline:

• Court: the civil court where the property is situated.
• Reliefs: a declaration that the easement exists, a permanent injunction restraining obstruction, a mandatory injunction to remove an obstruction, and damages where loss is caused.
• Proof: the deed (for a grant), evidence of the transfer or partition (for necessity), or witnesses and records of long use (for prescription).
• Interim relief: a temporary injunction to keep the way open while the suit is decided.

Where the claim is really about ownership rather than a mere right over another’s land, a declaratory suit on title may be needed instead. The time limits that apply to such suits are set out in limitation periods for common suits and appeals.

06Where Claw fits

Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.

Easement and right-of-way suits are fought in civil courts across the country, and they turn on how courts have treated facts like permissive use, necessity, or the two-year timing rule. Claw lets you keep watch on your own live suit, following the cases, orders and hearings across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, and search more than 30 crore judgments in under five seconds to find how prescription and necessity claims have been decided. The judgments reach back to the Supreme Court in 1950 and the High Courts in 1990. Claw does not use your case documents to train its AI models.

Open a free Claw account to follow your property suit and look up right-of-way rulings by party or advocate name. To search the wider body of law, see case search across Indian courts.

07Sources and further reading

• India Code (official text of the Indian Easements Act, 1882): indiacode.nic.in
• Indian Easements Act (Sections 4, 13 and 15): devgan.in
• Easements Act (bare act and notes): advocatekhoj.com
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This guide is general information, not legal advice. The law changes through amendments and judgments, so check the current text and take advice from counsel before you act.

08Frequently asked questions