Indian Easements Act, 1882
47. Extinction by non-enjoyment
A continuous easement is extinguished when it totally ceases to
be enjoyed as such for an unbroken period of twenty years.
A discontinuous easement is extinguished when, for a like
period, it has not been enjoyed as such.
Such period shall be reckoned, in the case of a continuous
easement, from the day on which its enjoyment was obstructed by the servant
owner, or rendered impossible by the dominant owner; and, in the case of a
discontinuous easement, from the day on which it was last enjoyed by any person
as dominant owner:
PROVIDED that if, in the case of a discontinuous
easement, the dominant owner, within such period, registers, under the Indian
Registration Act, 1877 (3 of 1877), a declaration of his intention to retain
such easement, it shall not be extinguished until a period of twenty years has
elapsed from the date of the registration.
Where an easement can be legally enjoyed only at a certain place,
or at certain times, or between certain hours, or for a particular purpose, its
enjoyment during the said period at another place, or at other items, or
between other hours, or for another purpose, does not prevent its extinction
under this section.
The circumstance that, during the said period no one was in
possession of the servant heritage, or that the easement could not be enjoyed,
or that a right accessory thereto was enjoyed, or that dominant owner was not
aware of its existence, or that he enjoyed it in ignorance of his right to do
so, does not prevent its extinction under this section.
An easement is not extinguished under this section-
(a) where the cessation is in pursuance of a contract between
the dominant and servant owners;
(b) where the dominant heritage is held in co-ownership, and one
of the co-owners enjoys the easement within the said period; or
(c) where the easement is necessary easement.
Where several heritages are respectively subject to rights of
way for the benefit of a single heritage, and the ways are continuous, such
rights shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be a single
easement.
Illustration
A has, as annexed to his house, rights of way from the high road
thither over the heritages X and Z and intervening heritage Y. Before the
twenty years expire, A exercises his right of way over X. His rights of way
over Y and Z are not extinguished.