Legal Definitions - prescription

Prescription is a legal term that refers to the acquisition of an easement, which is the right to use someone else's property, through continuous and adverse use of that property. This means that if someone has been using your land without your permission for a certain period of time, they may have the legal right to continue doing so.

In order for someone to acquire a prescriptive easement, they must meet the following requirements:

• Their use of the land must be open and notorious, meaning it is visible and apparent to anyone who is present on the land.
• Their use of the land must be adverse to the rights of the landowner, meaning it is not done with the owner's permission.
• Their use of the land must be continuous and uninterrupted for a certain period of time, typically 10 years.

Let's say your neighbor has been using a path on your property to access their backyard for the past 10 years. If you were aware of this use but did not take any action to stop it, your neighbor may have acquired a prescriptive easement over that path. This means that even though you own the property, your neighbor has the legal right to continue using that path to access their backyard.