What can happen to an easement if one party becomes the sole owner of both dominant and servient tenements?

When one party becomes the sole owner of both the dominant tenement (the property benefitting from the easement) and the servient tenement (the property burdened by the easement), the easement is typically terminated. This principle is rooted in real property law, where the concept of unity of ownership leads to the extinguishment of the easement.

The rationale behind this is that the easement is intended to allow the dominant tenement to benefit from the servient tenement. If one person holds both properties, the need for that easement ceases to exist, as there is no longer a separate interest that requires protection. This concept reinforces the idea that easements are meant to serve two different property interests; thus, when both interests are merged into one ownership, the easement is effectively no longer necessary.

This termination of the easement reflects a principle of property law that prioritizes consolidated ownership over the need for an easement when both properties have the same owner.