09-07-2016, 11:35 AM
The way I read this, the easement allows joint use, because there is no limitation stated to the contrary. Just because someone has a dominant easement, they are not automatically granted exclusive use. Exclusive use would have to be granted in the easement description as recorded. Your description above states that the contrary is true. The easements specifically provide non-exclusive access. The two adjacent easements are really one very wide easement, any part of which either party is free to use for access to their lot. If the easement as recorded does not specify such, then it is not exclusive to pedestrian traffic. The verbiage of the recorded easement reigns supreme. With easements, like many things, if it didn't happen in writing, it didn't happen. Absent specific expressed restrictions, the most lenient interpretation of the rights granted would generally apply. But, for what it's worth, I am not a lawyer. I am just a guy on the internet. Anyone having legal issues with an easement should consult with a lawyer.
As for the difference between dominant and subordinate (servient) easment descriptions:
As defined by Evershed MR in Re Ellenborough Park [1956] Ch 131, an easement requires the existence of at least two parties. The party gaining the benefit of the easement is the dominant estate (or dominant tenement), while the party granting the benefit or suffering the burden is the servient estate (or servient tenement). For example, the owner of parcel A holds an easement to use a driveway on parcel B to gain access to A's house. Here, parcel A is the dominant estate, receiving the benefit, and parcel B is the servient estate, granting the benefit or suffering the burden. Stolen from Wikipedia
As for the difference between dominant and subordinate (servient) easment descriptions:
As defined by Evershed MR in Re Ellenborough Park [1956] Ch 131, an easement requires the existence of at least two parties. The party gaining the benefit of the easement is the dominant estate (or dominant tenement), while the party granting the benefit or suffering the burden is the servient estate (or servient tenement). For example, the owner of parcel A holds an easement to use a driveway on parcel B to gain access to A's house. Here, parcel A is the dominant estate, receiving the benefit, and parcel B is the servient estate, granting the benefit or suffering the burden. Stolen from Wikipedia