An easement is an interest in real property that entitles its owner to limited use or enjoyment of land in the possession of another. An easement may be appurtenant or in gross.
An easement is appurtenant to a tract or parcel when it is created to and does in fact benefit that tract or parcel or when it is attached to it. Civil Code § 801 lists various appurtenant easements: right to pasture, fishing, taking game, right of way, water, flooding land, receipt of sunlight, etc. That list is not exclusive.
An easement is in gross when it is not attached to any particular land but belongs to a person individually.
An easement can be created in any one of the following ways:
EXPRESS CONVEYANCE
MUST BE IN WRITING. The most commonly used method for the creation of easements is the express conveyance. Subject to a few exceptions, an easement may be created only by a conveyance or other instrument in writing, subscribed by the party (or by the duly authorized agent of the party) creating it. WRITING REQUIREMENT EXCEPTIONS. Doctrines of part performance and estoppel. For example, it has been held that an executed oral agreement between the creator of an easement and a person seeking to enforce rights in the easement is sufficient to vest the latter with rights enforceable in equity. Applying the familiar rule that equity regards as done that which ought to be done, courts will protect an enforceable equitable title to an easement as fully as an enforceable legal title
IMPLIED CONVEYANCE
EXPRESS RESERVATION
IMPLIED RESERVATION
BY CONTRACT
BY PRESCRIPTION
BY NECESSITY
CONVEYANCE OF LESS THAN FULL TITLE