Which term describes the legal remedy that grants access to landlocked property when there is no other legal access?

• A. Easement by prescription
• B. License
• C. Easement by necessity
• D. Right of survivorship

Answer: (C)

When land is effectively unusable without crossing someone else’s land, the law can create an easement by necessity to grant the owner reasonable ingress and egress. This type of easement isn’t based on a prior agreement; it arises because without it the property would be useless. It becomes a real property interest that runs with the land and is enforceable against future owners, typically lasting as long as the necessity exists.

Easement by prescription would come from long, open, adverse use over time, not from necessity. A license is only a revocable permission to enter someone else’s land and doesn’t create a lasting property interest. The right of survivorship deals with how co-owners’ interests pass when someone dies, not with access to land.