By S&S Co. Advocates & Solicitors · Published 21 February 2026 · Informational content, not legal advice
About this article: A general explainer prepared by S&S Co. Advocates & Solicitors on a recurring type of dispute. It does not report a specific judgment or order, names no parties and gives no case citation, so it should not be cited as authority. Law and practice change; please verify against the current statute and primary sources before relying on it.
Disputes over a right of way, or a right to light, air or water, are common in older colonies and villages, where access routes grew informally. Under Section 15 of the Indian Easements Act, 1882, an easement can be acquired by prescription where the right has been peaceably enjoyed, openly and as of right, without interruption, for twenty years, and the twenty years must end within two years of the suit in which the claim is made or contested.
Each element matters. 'Peaceably' means without continuous protest or dispute by the owner of the servient land. 'Openly' and 'as of right' mean that the use was not secret and was not by permission. 'Uninterrupted' means that the period was not broken by an obstruction accepted by the claimant. Use by permission or goodwill does not ripen into an easement, however long it continues.
An easement of necessity under Section 13 is different. It arises where a property would otherwise have no access, usually because of how a larger property was divided, and needs no period of use. The two are often pleaded together, but they depend on different evidence: necessity on the present position and the history of the division, and prescription on a specific, provable history of use. Easements by grant and by custom are separate again.