Which method can extinguish an easement if the property is destroyed?

Which method can extinguish an easement if the property is destroyed?

• A. Termination
• B. Destruction
• C. Prescription
• D. Interruption

Answer: (B)

If the servient land—the property burdened by the easement—is destroyed, there’s nothing left for the easement to run over or to enable access to. In that situation the easement ends automatically because the land it was tied to no longer exists. That specific way of ending an easement is destruction of the servient tenement, by operation of law. The other ideas don’t fit this scenario: prescription involves gaining or losing rights through use over time rather than the fate of the property itself; interruption affects the continuity of use but doesn’t destroy the underlying land; termination is a broad term that would require another mechanism (like release or merger) to take effect.

If the servient land—the property burdened by the easement—is destroyed, there’s nothing left for the easement to run over or to enable access to. In that situation the easement ends automatically because the land it was tied to no longer exists. That specific way of ending an easement is destruction of the servient tenement, by operation of law.

The other ideas don’t fit this scenario: prescription involves gaining or losing rights through use over time rather than the fate of the property itself; interruption affects the continuity of use but doesn’t destroy the underlying land; termination is a broad term that would require another mechanism (like release or merger) to take effect.