What is the term for an easement that allows the holder to prevent the servient owner from performing acts on their land?

The correct term for an easement that allows the holder to prevent the servient owner from performing certain acts on their land is a negative easement. This type of easement specifically restricts the use of the servient estate, meaning that it grants rights to the dominant owner to ensure certain activities cannot occur on the servient property.

For example, a negative easement might prevent a property owner from constructing a building or blocking sunlight that impacts the neighboring property, thus protecting the rights and interests of the easement holder. This contrasts with other types of easements, such as affirmative easements, which grant the holder the right to take some specific action on the servient land, like crossing it to access a road. Understanding these distinctions is crucial in property law and land use discussions.

Appurtenant easements attach to a specific parcel of land and benefit that parcel, but do not grant the holder the right to prohibit actions of the servient owner. Prescriptive easements arise from the continuous and open use of someone else's land over time but do not provide a means to restrict the servient user’s rights. Thus, the defining characteristic of a negative easement is its ability to impose limitations on how the servient property can be used