An easement is an interest in land that is owned by another person and gives the easement holder or easement owner the right to use or control the other person’s land in some limited way—such as the right to drive across another person’s private property to access a public highway or other public road (an ingress-and-egress easement).

There are many different types of easements, depending on the nature of the use of the land—such light-and-air easements; mineral easements; timber easements; noise easements; and railroad easements—and how the easement was acquired—an express easement; an implied easement; a prescriptive easement; an easement by necessity; or an easement by estoppel, for example.

There are also negative easements that prohibit the owner of a property (the servient-estate) from doing something, such as building a home or structure that blocks the view or sunlight for an easement holder—often an adjoining property owner (the dominant estate).

Public utility companies (gas, electricity, telephone, water, sewer, cable, etc.) often have easements to place utility transmission, distribution, or power lines on private property and access them for installation, repair, and maintenance.

Laws regarding easements vary from state to state and may be located in a state’s court opinions (also known as its common law or case law) or in its statutes.

In Rhode Island, easements are recognized as non-possessory interests in a property that allow the holder to use the land for a specific purpose while the title remains with the owner. Easements can be created in various ways, including express grants in deeds or other legal documents (express easements), by implication from the circumstances of the creation of the easement (implied easements), by continuous and open use over a certain period (prescriptive easements), out of necessity for access to a landlocked property (easement by necessity), or by reliance on the landowner's representations (easement by estoppel). Negative easements, which restrict the property owner from performing certain actions that could affect the easement holder's rights, are also recognized. Utility companies often hold easements for the purpose of installing and maintaining infrastructure. Rhode Island's approach to easements is informed by both statutory law and common law (court opinions), and the specific rights and obligations of easement holders and property owners can be complex, often requiring the interpretation of an attorney to navigate the nuances of each individual case.