Heritage Communities of North Carolina, Inc. v. Powers, Inc.

WELLS, Judge.

The first question to be determined in this appeal is whether the easement granted by Valley Forge to Brandywine was destroyed through operation of the doctrine of merger when the dominant estate (first tract) was reconveyed to Valley Forge, as contended by the defendants.

Merger occurs

when the owner of one of the estates, dominant or ser-vient, acquires the other, because an owner of land cannot have an easement in his own estate in fee, for the plain and obvious reason that in having... the full and unlimited right and power to make any and every possible use of the land ... all…