easement

noun · Dienstbarkeit

Dienstbarkeit, a limited real right to use another’s land or to stop them doing something on it. An English easement is tied to a benefited plot, so it maps to a Grunddienstbarkeit, § 1018 BGB; a right for a named person instead is a beschränkte persönliche Dienstbarkeit, § 1090 BGB, a distinction that decides whether the right runs with the land.

Which translation, when

an das Grundstück gebundenthe standard case: an English easement always serves a dominant plot, so it corresponds to the Grunddienstbarkeit, § 1018 BGB, which burdens a servient plot in favour of the owner of another plot; it is entered in the Grundbuch and passes automatically to each new owner of either plot, so it runs with the land.

an eine Person gebundenthe other form: a use right granted to a named person, not to a plot, is a beschränkte persönliche Dienstbarkeit, § 1090 BGB (a Wohnungsrecht, § 1093 BGB, is one example); it is personal, does not run with any dominant land, and typically ends with the person, so choosing this form where the English right is appurtenant misstates transferability.

Why

Easement is Dienstbarkeit, but which Dienstbarkeit matters. An English easement needs a dominant and a servient tenement, so it is appurtenant, and the German counterpart is the Grunddienstbarkeit of § 1018 BGB: a plot is burdened in favour of the owner of another plot, whether by a positive use (a Wegerecht, a right of way, or a Leitungsrecht, a services run), by a duty not to act (a building ban), or by the exclusion of a right the burdened owner would otherwise have. It is registered in the Grundbuch and, being tied to the land rather than to a person, passes with both plots on sale. The other member of the family is the beschränkte persönliche Dienstbarkeit of § 1090 BGB, granted to a specific person; the Wohnungsrecht of § 1093 BGB is the common instance. It does not serve a dominant plot and usually ends with the person, so it does not run with the land in the same way. Rendering an appurtenant English easement as a beschränkte persönliche Dienstbarkeit, or the reverse, therefore changes who holds the right and whether it survives a sale. So Dienstbarkeit is the right genus, but the sub-type carries the consequence.

Typical mistakes

An English easement is appurtenant, tied to a dominant plot, so it maps to the Grunddienstbarkeit, § 1018 BGB, which runs with the land; rendering it as a beschränkte persönliche Dienstbarkeit, § 1090 BGB, makes it personal and misstates transferability.
A Grunddienstbarkeit is registered in the Grundbuch and passes with the land, so treating an easement as a merely contractual permission understates it.
Dienstbarkeit is the genus; naming only one narrow content, such as Wegerecht, for every easement is too narrow.

What matters

Rendering a land right, the translation should use Grunddienstbarkeit, § 1018 BGB, for an English easement that serves a dominant plot and runs with the land, and reserve beschränkte persönliche Dienstbarkeit, § 1090 BGB, for a right granted to a named person. Choosing the wrong sub-type misstates who holds the right and whether it survives a sale.

Authority

§ 1018 BGB
§ 1090 BGB

What the machine misses

Machine output may render easement as Dienstbarkeit without fixing the sub-type, or reach for the false friend Erleichterung, an easing. It loses that an English easement is appurtenant, so it is a Grunddienstbarkeit, § 1018 BGB, tied to a dominant plot and running with the land, as opposed to a beschränkte persönliche Dienstbarkeit, § 1090 BGB, which is personal and ends with the person. The rendering blurs whether the right survives a sale.

See what the machine does with this clause →

Examples

an easement of way	eine Wegedienstbarkeit
the easement runs with the land	die Dienstbarkeit ist mit dem Grundstück verbunden
an easement registered in the land register	eine im Grundbuch eingetragene Dienstbarkeit
the dominant and the servient land	das herrschende und das dienende Grundstück

More notes on these sections

covenant Verpflichtung