Easements implied by prior use come into existence when property owners make use of
one part of their property for the benefit of another part.
Most courts require that the use for which the easement is claimed have existed prior to
the severance of ownership. As an idea is sometimes put, there must have been a “quasi
easement” in favor of one portion of the property and against the other portion, while
both were under common ownership. The benefited portion is called the quasi dominant
tenement, and the burdened portion is the quasi servient tenement.