Negative Servitude Law and Legal Definition
A negative servitude is a servitude permitting a person to prohibit the servient landowner from exercising a right. For example, a servitude preventing a landowner from making any constructions that would block light from reaching his/her neighbor’s land.
The following is an example of a state statute (Puerto Rico) defining the term.
According to 31 L.P.R.A. § 1635, a positive servitude is one which imposes upon the owner of the servient tenement the obligation of allowing something to be done or of doing it himself, and a negative servitude is one which prohibits the owner of the servient tenement doing something which would be licit for him to do if the servitude did not exist.
