Louisiana Civil Code

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CHAPTER 4 - CONVENTIONAL OR VOLUNTARY SERVITUDES

SECTION 1 - KINDS OF CONVENTIONAL SERVITUDES

Art. 697. Predial servitudes may be established by an owner on his estate or acquired for its benefit.

The use and extent of such servitudes are regulated by the title by which they are created, and, in the absence of such regulation, by the following rules. [Acts 1977, No. 514, §1]

Art. 698. Predial servitudes are established on, or for the benefit of, distinct corporeal immovables. [Acts 1977, No. 514, §1]

Art. 699. The following are examples of predial servitudes:

Rights of support, projection, drip, drain, or of preventing drain, those of view, of light, or of preventing view or light from being obstructed, of raising buildings or walls, or of preventing them from being raised, of passage, of drawing water, of aqueduct, of watering animals, and of pasturage. [Acts 1977, No. 514, §1]

Art. 700. The servitude of support is the right by which buildings or other constructions of the dominant estate are permitted to rest on a wall of the servient estate.

Unless the title provides otherwise, the owner of the servient estate is bound to keep the wall fit for the exercise of the servitude, but he may be relieved of this charge by abandoning the wall. [Acts 1977, No. 514, §1]

Art. 701. The servitude of view is the right by which the owner of the dominant estate enjoys a view; this includes the right to prevent the raising of constructions on the servient estate that would obstruct the view. [Acts 1977, No. 514, §1]

Art. 702. The servitude of prohibition of view is the right of the owner of the dominant estate to prevent or limit openings of view on the servient estate. [Acts 1977, No. 514, §1]

Art. 703. The servitude of light is the right by which the owner of the dominant estate is entitled to make openings in a common wall for the admission of light; this includes the right to prevent the neighbor from making an obstruction. [Acts 1977, No. 514, §1]

Art. 704. The servitude of prohibition of light is the right of the owner of the dominant estate to prevent his neighbor from making an opening in his own wall for the admission of light or that limits him to certain lights only. [Acts 1977, No. 514, §1]

Art. 705. The servitude of passage is the right for the benefit of the dominant estate whereby persons, animals, utilities, or vehicles are permitted to pass through the servient estate. Unless the title provides otherwise, the extent of the right and the mode of its exercise shall be suitable for the kind of traffic or utility necessary for the reasonable use of the dominant estate. [Acts 1977, No. 514, §1; Acts 2012, No. 739, §1, eff. Aug. 1, 2012]

Art. 706. Predial servitudes are either affirmative or negative.

Affirmative servitudes are those that give the right to the owner of the dominant estate to do a certain thing on the servient estate. Such are the servitudes of right of way, drain, and support.

Negative servitudes are those that impose on the owner of the servient estate the duty to abstain from doing something on his estate. Such are the servitudes of prohibition of building and of the use of an estate as a commercial or industrial establishment. [Acts 1977, No. 514, §1]

Art. 707. Predial servitudes are either apparent or nonapparent. Apparent servitudes are those that are perceivable by exterior signs, works, or constructions; such as a roadway, a window in a common wall, or an aqueduct.

Nonapparent servitudes are those that have no exterior sign of their existence; such as the prohibition of building on an estate or of building above a particular height. [Acts 1977, No. 514, §1]




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