An affirmative easement (also known as a positive easement) is an interest in another person’s land that allows the easement holder or easement owner (the dominant estate) to use the other person’s property (often an adjoining property) for a limited purpose.

For example, a landowner (the dominant estate) may have an affirmative easement that requires the owner of the adjoining property (the servient estate) to permit a limited use of the servient estate, such as discharging water or grass that has been cut onto the servient estate.

The terminology of the dominant estate and the servient estate is best understood by focusing on the use permitted by the easement. The dominant estate is the property with the right to use the servient estate (which is serving the dominant estate in some way).

In New York, an affirmative easement, or positive easement, grants a property owner (the dominant estate) the right to use a portion of another's property (the servient estate) for a specific purpose. This could include the right to discharge water or deposit cut grass onto the servient estate. The creation of such easements typically requires a written agreement that must be signed and acknowledged by both parties in a manner that would allow it to be recorded. This agreement is often recorded with the county clerk to provide notice of the easement to future purchasers of the servient estate. The terms of the easement, including the rights and obligations of both the dominant and servient estates, are defined by the agreement and governed by New York property law. Easements can be created by express grant or reservation, implication, or prescription. Once established, easements are binding on subsequent owners of both the dominant and servient estates and can only be terminated or modified under certain conditions, such as through a written release or abandonment.