Easements are limited rights to use land owned by others in fee. Easements in gross are held by persons. They detach rights from land and attach to a person. Unless somehow limited in time they can be conveyed separately from the holder's other lands. Mineral rights, timber rights, hunting rights, and public road and utility easements are examples.
Title is a legal term for a bundle of rights in a piece of property in which a party may own either a legal interest or an equitable interest. The rights in the bundle may be separated and held by different parties. Examples are as follows:
" Water rights;
" Mineral rights;
" Easement to neighboring property, for utility lines, etc.;
" Timber rights;
" Farming rights;
" Grazing rights;
" Hunting rights;
" Air rights;
" Development rights to erect improvements under various restrictions; and
" Appearance rights, often subjected to local zoning ordinances and deed restrictions.
As an interest in real property, an easement may be created by an express grant and should be drawn and executed with the same formalities as would be employed with a deed transferring realty. As for any conveyance of an interest in real property, a grant of an easement must describe the land that is to be subjected to the easement with sufficient clarity to locate it with reasonable certainty. An easement should be properly recorded; an unrecorded easement may not be enforceable against a subsequent purchaser.
