For many years, leading treatise writers have advised that if a prescriptive easement claimant establishes that otherwise unexplained use of another’s land has occurred in an open and notorious manner and continued without interruption for the statutory prescription period, the claimant’s use is presumed to have been adverse to the owner. The same leading authorities acknowledge that a minority of courts employ the opposite presumption—that otherwise unexplained use is presumed to be permissive.
