Jack v. HUNT ET UX.

265 P.2d 251, 264 P.2d 461, 200 Or. 263, 1953 Ore. LEXIS 304
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 9, 1953
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 265 P.2d 251 (Jack v. HUNT ET UX.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jack v. HUNT ET UX., 265 P.2d 251, 264 P.2d 461, 200 Or. 263, 1953 Ore. LEXIS 304 (Or. 1953).

Opinions

[265]*265PERRY, J.

This is a suit brought by the plaintiff Bertha Snipes Jack: against the defendants Charles R. Hunt and Mary Hunt, husband and wife, to enjoin the defendants from obstructing a private road or driveway and to establish an easement along said roadway for the use and benefit of the property owned by the plaintiff.

The defendants are the owners of the following described real property situated in Wasco County, State of Oregon:

“Beginning at the Northwest corner of Tract One (1) Snipes Acres, running thence Northeasterly along line between Tracts One (1) and Two (2) of said Snipes Acres, a distance of 345 feet; thence Southeasterly and at right angles with the first-mentioned course a distance of 37 feet; thence Northeasterly and parallel to said line between said Tract One (1) and Two (2), a distance of 155 feet to West right of way line of Columbia River Highway; thence Southeasterly along said right of way, a distance of 153 feet; thence Southwesterly, and at right angles to said right of way, a distance of 500 feet to the West line of said Tract One; thence Northwesterly along West boundary of said Tract One, 190 feet to point of beginning. Contains 2.04 acres.”

and the plaintiff is the owner of the following described real property situated in Wasco County, State of Oregon:

“Beginning at the Northeast corner of Tract One (1) Snipes Acres, running thence Southwesterly along line between Tracts One (1) and Two (2) of said Snipes Acres, a distance of 155 feet; thence Southeasterly, and at right angles to the first mentioned course, a distance of 37 feet; thence North[266]*266easterly and parallel to line between said Tracts One and Two, a distance of 155 feet, to West right of way line of Columbia River Highway; thence Northwesterly along said right of way, 37 feet, to point of beginning. Contains 0.13 of an acre. ’ ’

For a number of years prior to October 6,1944, the plaintiff was the owner of both tracts of land herein-above described, and on October 6, 1944, she conveyed to the defendants the property first-above described (upon which the roadway in question is situated), and retained for herself the property second-above described. Plaintiff’s northerly boundary line of 37 feet is appurtenant to the Columbia River highway.

The roadway in which the plaintiff seeks a perpetual easement appurtenant to her property runs generally in a northerly and southerly direction along the western boundary of the plaintiff’s property from the Columbia River highway and terminates on the defendants’ property beyond the southerly boundary of plaintiff’s property. The house is so situated upon plaintiff’s property that no motor vehicle access can be had upon her property to the rear portion thereof.

Prior to the separation of the property into the two tracts the plaintiff operated upon the land conveyed to the defendants a motor court and a trailer park, maintaining upon the property retained by her a house, and a shed used as a garage and for storage. Subsequent to the conveyance of the property to the defendants plaintiff constructed on the northerly portion of the property retained by her a small rental house, and to the rear of her home she constructed a grain storage bin.

The deed of conveyance from the plaintiff to the defendants contained the usual warranties, and made [267]*267no reservation of any easement upon the roadway in question.

The trial court found that there existed an easement upon this roadway for the benefit of the real property reserved by the plaintiff and enjoined the defendants from obstructing the plaintiff’s use thereof. From this decree of the trial court the defendants have appealed.

The question before us is whether or not under the circumstances disclosed by the record an easement appurtenant by implied reservation was created upon the severance of the two tracts.

Whether an easement by implied reservation is created depends upon the intention of the parties to the transaction; this to be inferred from all of the circumstances under which the conveyance was made, as stated in Restatement, Property, Servitudes, 2972, Creation, § 474:

“When land in one ownership is divided into separately owned parts by a conveyance, an easement may be created * * * in favor of one who has or may have a possessory interest in one part as against one who has or may have a possessory interest in another part by implication from the circumstances under which the conveyance was made, alone.”
“Implication from the circumstances” of the transaction necessarily takes into consideration many elements which are set forth in Restatement, Property, Servitudes, 2977, Creation, § 476, as follows:
“In determining whether the circumstances under which a conveyance of land is made imply an easement, the following factors are important
“(a) whether the claimant is the conveyor or the conveyee,
“(b) the terms of the conveyance,
“(c) the consideration given for it,
[268]*268“(d) whether the claim is made against a simultaneous conveyee,
“(e) the extent of necessity of the easement to the claimant,
“(f) whether reciprocal benefits result to the conveyor and the conveyee,
“(g) the manner in which the land was used prior to its conveyance, and
‘ ‘ (h) the extent to which the manner of prior use was or might have been known to the parties.”

This list of factors as set forth above is not exhaustive. They are, however, the factors most commonly arising and are at best merely guide posts in determining the assumed intention of the parties as they are presumed to have existed in relationship to the continuation of the easement for the benefit of the dominant property at the time the contract was consummated and the unity of title in the tract of land severed.

In each instance the rule of necessity in some degree is applied. The majority rule makes no distinction between the degree of necessity in the granting or the retaining of an implied easement. In either circumstance the degree of necessity is answered “if necessary to the reasonable enjoyment of the property” (28 CJS 694, Easements, §34). The minority rule, “however, urge that a grantor should not be permitted to derogate from his grant and accordingly in many jurisdictions the rule is established that, where there is a grant of land without express reservation of easements, there can be no reservation by implication, unless the easement is strictly one of necessity,” (28 CJS 694, supra).

The question of the degree of necessity to imply the retention of an apparent and permanent easement has not before been considered by this court, but the degree of necessity to carry an easement by grant has been [269]*269held to be that “reasonably necessary to the enjoyment of the property” conveyed. German Savings & Loan Soc. v. Gordon, 54 Or 147, 102 P 736.

The rule of reasonable necessity relative to a retained quasi easement was first applied in the case of Pyer v. Carter, 1 Hurlstone & Norman’s, 916, and although later denied in Suffield v. Brown,

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Jack v. HUNT ET UX.
265 P.2d 251 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1953)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
265 P.2d 251, 264 P.2d 461, 200 Or. 263, 1953 Ore. LEXIS 304, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jack-v-hunt-et-ux-or-1953.