Legal Easements as Enablers of Sustainable Land Use and Infrastructure Development in Smart Cities

Abstract

The issue of legal easements is a relatively rarely discussed topic among the professional public, and yet, even today, legal easements create space for the development of smart cities. Legal easements are restrictions on property rights that arise directly from the law, which means that the possible disagreement of the owner of the property concerned is irrelevant. The aim of this scientific study is to provide, based on a study of legislation, case law, and professional and scientific articles, sufficient information on this legal institution, which has its basis in the Civil Code. The scientific study also examines in detail the issue of legal easements and their role in the context of sustainable land use and infrastructure development in smart cities. In the study, we test the stated hypothesis that “Legal easements, as a legal instrument, effectively promote sustainable land use and infrastructure development in smart cities by enabling the integration of renewable energy, eco-mobility and green infrastructure without negatively impacting property rights, thus contributing to reducing conflicts between private property and public interest”. We use a number of scientific methods of research to analyse the current legal situation and the possibilities for the application of legal easements in the context of smart cities, including legal analysis, the comparative method, the method of synthesis, deduction, and historical interpretation. In particular, the methods in question were used to examine, historically describe and compare the current legislation on easements and their use in the management of urban space and infrastructure. The main results of the research include a detailed overview of the current legal status of easements and their limitations, which affect the possibilities of their application in the conditions of smart cities. The results suggest that if easements are effectively implemented they can make a significant contribution to optimising space, regulating access to public services, and protecting natural resources. This tool has the potential to enhance the quality of life in cities and promote sustainable urbanism through adaptive planning and management of urban space.

1. Introduction

According to Dušek, the Smart Cities concept currently represents a comprehensive approach to the functioning of a city region, which intervenes in various social areas such as culture, infrastructure, environment, energy, social services, and others [1]. As Oberländer et al. state, in each of these areas, the concept pursues several objectives that are interrelated, and together they form a system that is based on the principles of sustainable development [2]. The whole system involves public, private and civil society actors, without whom, as Liu et al. point out, the goals could not be achieved. All this is the reason why there is currently no single international legally binding definition or legal framework for the concept of smart cities, which would precisely regulate the procedure to achieve the desired state [3]. For this reason, individual countries have to follow their own smart concepts and methodologies that are in line with global documents on the subject [4]. Organisations involved in research, standardisation, or consultancy in this field integrate within their own definitions the elements and areas on which to focus the activities of cities that aspire to be ’smart’. However, the key denominator in the implementation of these activities is the use of data and technology to improve the quality of services provided to their citizens in a sustainable way.

According to Mutambik, a smart city can thus be understood as a modernised urbanised area where everything from transport to energy can be connected to digital technologies that enable two-way information transfer between the city, its inhabitants, and visitors. By leveraging technologies such as the Internet of Things, Big Data, Machine Learning, as well as connectivity, city leaders can have direct interaction with residents and infrastructure to monitor the state of the city and what services may be needed in the future to enable a higher quality of life for all its residents [5].

Mutambik and Almuqrin further express the view that smart cities are more efficient, have more opportunities for job creation and to secure their growth, while improving social inclusion and engagement of their inhabitants [6]. They can achieve this potential by increasing their level of functionality, long-term sustainability, and living standards for their inhabitants through the creation of smart city strategies. In this context, the Strategic Implementation Plan of the European Commission’s European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities programme defines smart cities as systems where people interact and use energy inputs, materials, services and financing to accelerate the process of sustainable economic development and raise living standards. These interactions become “smart” through the strategic use of information and communication infrastructure and services in a process of transparent urban planning, development, and management that is responsive to the social and economic needs of society. A study initiated by the European Parliament defines a smart city as one that seeks to solve urban problems through ICT-enabled solutions based on partnerships between different stakeholders and the city [7].

Considering the scope of the smart cities topic and our research in this area [8,9], we would like to extend our research in the field of smart cities to include the possibility of using the legal institution of legal easements in the construction of smart cities. In our view, the use of easements could, under certain pre-specified conditions, replace the builder’s obligation to own the land on which the building forming part of the smart cities concept could be constructed. In general, easements represent certain limitations of the owner of land or a building towards another person, such that the owner is obliged to bear, endure, or act. The result of this restriction is a situation where his rights of use are partially restricted. Legal easements are also specific in that they arise directly from the law, i.e., also in those cases where the owner of the property concerned does not agree with the establishment of the easement and, therefore, it is necessary, in accordance with the Constitution of the Slovak Republic, or on the basis of another legal regulation to provide compensation for such a restriction of the property right [10]. Such a procedure, i.e., the provision of compensation for the restriction of property rights, should be automatic in all states. However, there are also opinions that it is possible to restrict or take away property rights without compensation [11].

Easements as a legal institution related to the use or protection of land are used quite often with certain deviations or modifications in several legal systems. Their purpose of use may also differ depending on the specific conditions in individual regions. As Forest Hisey states, easements for land protection are a tool for land protection, whereby landowners voluntarily sell ownership rights to an external entity, whether governmental, or non-governmental. The pioneer of such a procedure was the USA, especially in the late 1980s. Interestingly, such legislation had spread throughout Canada by 2001 [12]. Other authors argue that protective easements used as a protective mechanism for the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems on private land and throughout the world have a clear meaning and are, therefore, receiving increasing attention [13]. According to them, most of the literature has focused mainly on the contribution of easements to private land conservation in the USA and other countries. However, they also point out the role of this legal institution in collective land conservation. And this issue remains out of focus. China plans to build the largest national parks in the world to address the conflict between nature conservation and social development. As a private and voluntary conservation tool, easements have the potential to fill the conservation gap, reduce conservation costs, support adaptive management, and stimulate sustainable national park construction. Brown et al. (2023) define such easements as a binding legal arrangement in which a landowner voluntarily gives up specific rights to use or develop his property, entrusting these rights to an authorised person, which is often a state land fund [14]. The essence of protective easements is, therefore, a legal situation in which the landowner gives up certain rights to improve his property. However, it should be emphasised that this is a permanent commitment that goes beyond the original agreement between the original contracting parties and is, therefore, binding on all future landowners [15]. Easements as a land protection tool are being used on several continents as a viable solution to achieve nature conservation in developing countries. Chapman et al. point out that, for example, Kenya and Tanzania are facing the urgent issue of shrinking wildlife habitats due to agricultural growth and human–wildlife conflicts [16]. The result could be to empower local communities and landowners to protect key wildlife corridors and habitats. Easements are also being used in Latin America, where they face common challenges in the Andean and Central American regions, such as habitat fragmentation and declining biodiversity. The implementation of easements can be crucial in protecting vital ecosystems such as cloud forests and coastal mangroves. Simonson et al., based on their research, suggested that easements should be incorporated into regional conservation plans, which, according to them, can improve the ability to withstand the effects of climate change and protect areas with high biodiversity [17]. In Poland, there was a need to amend the Civil Code in connection with increasing investment activities, especially in connection with the growing construction of industrial facilities. As Bogdan and Baranska state, the concept of transmission line easements is being introduced into the Polish legal order. This is to enable legal regulation of the transfer of equipment located on third-party properties. However, the constitutionality of such a procedure remains questionable [18].

Legal easements are an important tool for the regulation and management of public spaces, particularly in the context of infrastructure development and sustainable land use. The increased interest in integrating the smart cities concept into urban plans is leading cities to purchase and implement new technologies quite extensively, but they also have to deal with the legislative side of the matter and are, therefore, both at the city level and at the state level. Some authors have argued that the effective management of urban service delivery, as well as the improvement of the quality of life in cities, is directly influenced by access to legal tools, one of which can be easements. The debate on legal easements is particularly relevant in the context of climate change and increasing urbanisation, where environmental and social factors need to be considered in the planning and construction process [19]. In practice, we also encounter various controversial opinions on how the legislation for easements should be set. Some experts argue that the current legal frameworks are inadequate and do not provide sufficient protection for landowners. Others, on the other hand, point to the need for more flexible legislative solutions that would allow for more efficient and quicker establishment of easements for the benefit of the public interest [20,21]. These views are the subject of our investigation, whereby we also confront them with the real possibility of application. We also focus on the identification of possible improvements in the legislation and their application to specific cases in the context of smart cities. Also, based on the literature review conducted, we are of the opinion that the issue of legal easements is not often analysed and discussed by the professional public and certainly not by the lay public. Among experts and scientists, the issue of easements, in general, is mostly addressed, whereby the very legal easements remain outside their attention.

For this reason, we set the objectives of our scientific study to examine the following:

• the issue of easements, including the historical development up to the present in the territory of the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic,
• the role of legal easements in the context of sustainable land use and infrastructure development in smart cities
• the possibilities of applying legal easements in the development of smart cities.

With the scientific study, we would like to prepare the ground for the debate on the legislative and practical aspects of the use of legal easements. In relation to the above objectives, the main hypothesis we set is as follows: “Legal easements, as a legal instrument, effectively promote sustainable land use and infrastructure development in Smart Cities by enabling the integration of renewable energy, eco-mobility and green infrastructure without negatively impacting on the right of ownership, thus contributing to the reduction in conflicts between private property and the public interest”. The hypothesis consists of three parts. The first part points to one which defines legal easements as legal instruments, from which it is assumed that legislative and legal frameworks that regulate easements can positively influence the planning and implementation of projects in smart cities. At the same time, the hypothesis builds on the section on promoting sustainable land use and infrastructure development, focusing on specific aspects of sustainable development such as renewable energy, green mobility, and green infrastructure, and it assumes that legal easements will contribute to achieving these goals. The last point of the hypothesis seeks to reduce conflicts between private property and the public interest, thereby highlighting the need to balance owners’ rights and public interests.

In terms of systematics, the scientific study is divided into a total of five parts; a clear illustration of these parts is given in Figure 1.

In the introduction, we briefly introduce readers to the issue of legal easements, and we briefly set the study in the broad context of smart cities and emphasise its importance. We define the purpose of the scientific study and its significance, including the specific hypothesis to be tested. The Material and Methods section, which is more extensively analysed below, provides the basic scientific background for the other parts of this scientific study. The third section is devoted to the results of this study, in which we define easements, in general, theory, analyse the historical development, compare different legal regulations and scientifically describe the applicability of easements in smart cities. The fourth section discusses the findings in light of previous scientific studies and with respect to the hypotheses we have set. It also analyses possible future research directions. The fifth chapter presents a comprehensive summary and description of the results of our scientific study.

2. Materials and Methods

The scientific study examines the use of the legal institute of legal easements in the context of sustainable land use and infrastructure development in smart cities. It is based on a comprehensive review of the literature on smart cities’ easements. The up-to-date content of the literature is complemented by the content of legislation and court decisions. The literature search was conducted through electronic databases such as Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Scopus, and JSTOR. Due to the specificity of the topic, we used the possibilities of Slovak and Czech university libraries. The search terms were “easement”, “owner”, “smart city”, and “replacement”. We did not limit our search only to scientific articles and conference papers published especially in the last few years, as the opinions of all authors as well as court decisions from several decades ago are very important in the given issue. We have thoroughly reviewed these scholarly works and extracted and summarised the relevant information.

The applicable Slovak legislation in the Collection of Laws of the Slovak Republic (abbreviation “Coll.”) are available on the following website: www.slov-lex.sk. Czech legislation, primarily the 2012 Civil Code, was searched in the Collection of Laws and International Treaties of the Czech Republic (abbreviated as “the Coll.”) available at the following: www.e-sbirka.cz. We searched for European legislation in the Official Journal of the European Union, available at the following: www.eur-lex.europa.eu. This is the official electronic database where European Union legal acts, other acts, and official information from the institutions, bodies, offices, and agencies of the European Union are published. We searched for legislation and documents by entering the words real estate, land, owner, easement, rights in rem, and access to land. The databases provided several hundred documents, which we had to sort through.

As we have already stated, we aim to achieve the stated objectives mainly through a thorough study of the relevant legislation and the scientific literature. Thanks to the study of a large amount of relevant literature, we were also able to make the following structure for literature review, which expresses how we gradually narrowed down the scope of our investigation from the most general information until we arrived at our hypothesis, which we were able to confirm. Based on our previous research, we had a basic background regarding smart cities and the regulations that are associated with smart cities and the functioning of smart cities in the state. We subsequently narrowed the scope of possible scholarly inquiry, precisely through the fact that some hypotheses had already been confirmed by other scholars, but we found that no one had yet addressed the link between smart cities and legal easements. And so we focused our attention on this very issue and, through an appropriate selection of sources, we got into the most specific part of our research, which is to establish the hypothesis: “Legal easements, as a legal instrument, effectively promote sustainable land use and infrastructure development in Smart Cities by enabling the integration of renewable energy, eco-mobility, and green infrastructure without negatively impacting the rights of ownership, thus contributing to the reduction in conflicts between private property and the public interest”. Please find in Figure 2 our structure of literature review.

Due to the nature of our scientific work, we use a number of scientific methods of knowledge suitable for the study of both legal and non-legal sciences. This involves the use of the method of critical analysis to examine the legal situation and legal regulation. We use the comparative method to access the different opinions of experts in the field of public administration and law not only on the appropriateness of legislation, but also on the interpretation of individual institutes. In this way, we not only strive for a multidisciplinary view of the issue under examination, but, given our own long experience both in law practice and in teaching law at university, we also make use of doctrinal interpretation. The selected legislation is an indispensable source of knowledge necessary to achieve the objectives.

For better clarity in this scientific study, we have included a structured literature review, aligning the sources with the key research methods applied:

• Legal Analysis—We examined primary and secondary legal sources, including national legislation, EU regulations, and relevant case law, to assess the legal framework governing easements. Sources were retrieved from official legal databases such as Slov-Lex, E-Sbírka, and EUR-Lex.
• Historical Interpretation—We reviewed historical legal documents, policy changes, and scholarly works tracing the evolution of easements from Roman law to contemporary applications in urban planning.
• Comparative Method—To identify differences and similarities between legal easements in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and other jurisdictions, we analysed legislative texts, legal commentaries, and comparative legal studies. This method helped highlight best practises and potential legal reforms applicable to smart cities.
• Policy and Governance Analysis—We included studies on smart city policies, governance frameworks, and their intersection with property rights and urban land use regulations. This approach ensured that our analysis is grounded in existing policy debates.
• Case Studies—We reviewed practical implementations of easements in smart cities, examining how legal easements have been utilised in infrastructure projects related to energy, transportation, and public utilities.

For ease of reference, in Figure 3 we also include a chart that integrates the structured literature scheme presented above, which should support reconstruction based on the identified methods. The chart expresses the percentage of sources in the total number of sources that will be used within the main content sections of this scientific study with respect to the methods used.

Thus, as mentioned above, the methods used in this scientific study are legal analysis, comparative method, historical interpretation, and several other approaches, including case study analysis. These methods complement each other and provide a basic framework for the analysis and interpretation of the results.

The first method used is legal analysis, which is the basis of our research. This process consisted of several sub-steps. The first is the identification of relevant legislation. In particular, we focused on the legislation of the Slovak Republic. For the purpose of comparison of the Slovak legislation, we have also analysed the Czech Civil Code from 2012. Due to the specificity of the legal institute of easements, we also analyse selected European legislation as well as the decisions of its institutions concerning easements and the construction of energy facilities. We also analyse available court decisions related to easements, focusing on court interpretations. Based on the court’s interpretation, we identified the scope for the possible development of legal easements in the context of smart cities [22].

As part of our participation in the scientific grant “Effective Land Management” in the years 2021–2024, supported by the Agency for Support of Science and Research of the Slovak Republic, we have also organised several informal consultations within the framework of the above-mentioned grant. These were mainly consultations within the framework of personal participation in scientific conferences. The purpose of the consultations with lawyers and experts from various fields related to land law, such as lawyers, judges, surveyors, experts, and employees of cadastral departments of district offices, in order to seek their opinions on the practical application of legal easements in the context of building smart cities.

An important aspect of this research is the examination of how legal easements interact with the broader regulatory and policy framework of smart cities. To achieve this, we conducted an in-depth analysis of the following:

(a)

EU Smart Cities Initiatives—We reviewed documents from the European Commission related to Smart Cities and Communities to assess policy trends and legal implications.

(b)

National and Municipal Strategies—We examined strategic urban development plans and legislative instruments adopted at the national and municipal levels to facilitate the implementation of smart city projects.

(c)

Interdisciplinary Research on Smart Cities—Our literature review incorporated perspectives from law, urban studies, and technology policy to provide a multidisciplinary understanding of smart city governance.

By integrating these aspects into our research methodology, we ensure a comprehensive approach that accounts for both legal and practical dimensions of smart city development.

Another method used is the comparative method [23], which focuses on the analysis and comparison of several legislative arrangements concerning legal easements, especially in the context of their application in the framework of sustainable development and smart cities. The aim was to identify and abstract the most relevant aspects of that legislation which could contribute to the efficient use of land and the construction of infrastructure. The comparative analysis looked at legislation related to public utility projects and access to land for the purpose of building smart city infrastructure. The legislation analysed include legislation related to public transport, water resources management, telecommunications and, in particular, the energy sector. The diversity of legislation provides a broader framework for the application of legal easements. The Energy Act provides the greatest potential for practical applications in the context of sustainable development and smart cities, both in our opinion and in the opinion of the conference participants [24]. This law, in our opinion, most clearly defines the rules for securing access to private land in the case of the construction of energy infrastructure, such as distribution networks, renewable energy sources, and energy storage facilities. The result of the comparison is the selection of the most relevant elements from each piece of legislation that are suitable for applications in smart city conditions. The Energy Act was consequently considered the most appropriate for the purposes of this scientific study. Precisely defines the rules for the application of legal easements in the case of energy infrastructures, which are the basis for sustainable development in cities. At the same time, it is also possible to apply an analogous application to other sectors. Also, it provides a clear framework for access to private land to ensure not only the efficient distribution of energy, but also the building of renewable resources, which are key to smart cities. The comparative method allows for the identification of specific legislative requirements and the abstraction of the most relevant legal elements.

In the scientific study, we use a historical interpretation, which is a key factor for exploring the historical development of the concept of easements. First of all, we analyse historical documents, archival materials, historical laws, and regulations that are directly or even indirectly related to easements. We focus on significant legal reforms and political events that shaped, not only, the practice of legal easements. We further examine how the legal definition and application of easements has evolved over time, which includes an analysis of changes in legal norms in the context of urbanisation. The theoretical analyses in question are complemented by case studies that demonstrate how easements can be used to develop infrastructure and protect public interests [25]. All sources used for our scientific study are available in the References section, but not all sources used are available online.

For the following section, the results of our scientific study also structurally reflect the methods used during the preparation of this scientific study. First of all, it was necessary to use a legal analysis to obtain a basic legal background concerning easements. The legal analysis was carried out in the sections on easements in general, where we analysed legislation, judgments, and legal databases, as well as in the analysis of legal easements. Historical interpretation was used immediately in the next section, where we examined and interpreted the historical development of legal easements from Roman times to the present day, using a number of scholarly articles and studies. In the following part concerning the comparison of legislation in Slovakia with the Czech Republic and other jurisdictions, we used the comparative method. Thanks to this method, we identified differences and similarities, which significantly helped us to identify the use of easements in smart cities. This also constitutes the next section—Policy and Governance Analysis—because within this section, using the analysis method, we have tried to link the use of legal easements in smart cities. The last method, which was used in several parts, but especially in the last parts of the Results section, is the case studies, where we tried to illustrate the use of legal easements with specific examples from application practice. A brief overview of the methods used within the Results section is given below.

In Figure 4 we graphically illustrate the sequence of methods used in writing this scientific study, especially in the Results section:

3. Results

3.1. Easements—General

Easements belong to the group of rights in rem in addition to pledge and lien. Unlike other rights, easements are only attached to immovable property. Easements are currently regulated in the second part, third title, among rights in rem, namely in §151n to §151p of the Civil Code [26]. The definition of the term easement can be found in the scientific literature in several meanings. An easement is understood in the objective sense as a legal institute and in the subjective sense as an obligation of a certain person—the owner of the real estate [27]. As it follows from the introductory provision of §151n of the Civil Code, easements restrict the owner of immovable property in favour of someone else by obliging him to suffer something, to refrain from something or to do something. The rights corresponding to easements are either attached to the ownership of a certain immovable property or belong to a certain person. Easements attached to the ownership of immovable property pass with the ownership of the thing to the transferee. Section 119(2) of the Civil Code defines immovable property as land and buildings connected to the ground by a solid foundation. The Civil Code neither defines who the owner is nor exhaustively stipulates who the owner is. This interpretation is left only to theorists. In general, however, the owner can be defined as a natural person or a legal person to whom the property belongs. This means that he or she has the right to possess, use and benefit from the thing.

From the point of view of the fair use of this legal institute, it is important that the legislator allowed both parties to agree on the payment of the costs associated with the use of the property. Unless the parties agree otherwise, however, the person who is entitled to use another person’s property by virtue of the right corresponding to the easement is also obliged to bear the costs of its maintenance and repairs. If, however, the real property is also used by its owner, the latter shall be obliged to bear those costs in accordance with the degree of joint use.

As we have already stated, the current definition of easement is derived from Section 151n(1) and (2) of the Civil Code. According to these provisions, an easement restricts the owner of an immovable thing in favour of someone else by obliging him to suffer something, refrain from something, or do something. The rights corresponding to easements are either attached to the ownership of certain immovable property or belong to a certain person. Each obligation is accompanied by a corresponding subjective right which, in the case of easements, either relates to the ownership of a certain immovable property (in rem) or belongs to a certain person (in person). Easements connected with the ownership of immovable property enable the beneficiary of the easement to appropriate the use value of another’s immovable property and, at the same time, to achieve the most efficient use of his or her own immovable property. Such rights include, for example, the right to cross another’s land, the right to divert sewage across neighbouring land, or the right to draw from a well located on another’s land. A subjective right of easement, which belongs to a person, allows that person to appropriate the use value of another’s real property to satisfy the needs of that individualised entity. However, unlike easements, these do not pass to a successor in title. However, easements cannot be understood as depriving the owner of all subjective rights enumerated exhaustively in §123 of the Civil Code. An easement only restricts the owner, but in no case deprives him of the possibility to dispose of the object of ownership of the real estate. Easements as rights in rem to another’s property are of an absolute nature and, thus, persons entitled to easements are obliged to behave in such a way as not to interfere with the exercise of the owner’s right. However, every easement must objectively also correspond to a certain right. This right is called the right corresponding to the easement. A distinction must therefore be made between an easement and a right corresponding to an easement. An easement allows the subject of the right to appropriate the use value of another’s property. The aim is to make more efficient use of one’s own property [28].

Problematic is the interpretation of the concept of easement by the general public, which generally understands it as anything that burdens or restricts the owner. However, such an institution is not only an easement, as a pledge also burdens and restricts the owner. We base our opinion on case-law (Decision R 66/1999). In this judgement, the court also upheld the decision of the cadastral office refusing to register the easement in the land register, by which the pledgees agreed not to alienate, donate, or encumber the subject of the pledge for the benefit of another for the duration of the pledge. In its judgement, the court stated that it was a one-off encumbrance for the pledgee and only for the duration of the pledge, and, therefore, it was not an easement and was not in the nature of a right in rem. Thus, the parties incorrectly described the obligation as an easement [20].

Easements are created either directly by law, by a decision of the competent authority, by written contract, by will, by an approved agreement of heirs and by possession. The entire civil law basis for the creation of easements is found in §151o of the Civil Code. In the case of the creation of an easement by operation of law, a different legal regulation than that in the Civil Code applies. The regulation of so-called legal easements is very structured. In general, it is a restriction of the right of ownership in the public interest in order to meet specific social needs. Easements may also be created by a judicial or administrative decision. The Civil Code provides for three cases in which the court decides on the establishment of an easement. The first is provided for in Article 142(3), according to which, in the event of the dissolution and settlement of co-ownership by division of real property, the court may establish an easement in favour of the owner of another newly created real property. The second case is Section 135c(3) of the Civil Code, according to which the court may arrange the relations between the owner of the land and the owner of the building in other ways, in particular, to establish an easement for compensation, which is necessary for the exercise of the property right to the building. The third and therefore last possibility is contained in the Civil Code in the section on easements. It is namely §151o paragraph 3, according to which if the owner of the building is not also the owner of the adjacent land and the owner’s access to the building cannot be secured in any other way, the court may, on the application of the owner of the building, establish an easement in favour of the owner of the building consisting in the right of passage over the adjacent land.

Legal regulation of easements created by a decision of an administrative authority can be found, for example, in several provisions of the Act of the Federal Assembly of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic No. 229/1991 Coll. on the regulation of ownership relations to land and other agricultural property, as amended [29]. Another method of creation may be a written contract with officially authenticated signatures, which is subject to the authorization procedure of the competent district office and its cadastral department. Among the ways of creation of an easement we also include a testamentary will, where the testator may leave to one heir certain immovable tangible property and to the other heir the lifetime use of that property. The last two ways of establishing an easement are by agreement of several heirs and also by usufruct pursuant to Section 151o(1) in conjunction with Section 134 of the Civil Code [30].

Termination of Easements

The termination of easements is also regulated directly in the Civil Code. Easements terminate either by operation of law, by decision of a competent authority, by written contract, by death or dissolution of the beneficiary, by extinction of the real estate, by merger of the right and obligation and by expiry of time. One of the ways of extinction of easement by law is mentioned in §151p paragraph 2 of the Civil Code. This provision regulates the manner of termination of the easement provided that such permanent changes occur that the thing can no longer serve the needs of the person entitled. The termination of the easement may also be by a decision of the competent authority. However, this method of extinguishing the easement must also take into account the case-law according to which the easement cannot be revoked or limited without compensation (R110/1967). Just as easements are created, they are also extinguished by the conclusion of a written contract between the entitled and the obliged party. An easement is extinguished by death only if the easement operates in personam. For example, the right to use a house for life is extinguished by the death of that person, since the easement is tied to a specific person. The last types of extinction of easements are, for example, the extinction of the immovable property, the merger of the obligation.

3.2. Legal Easements

Legal easements are one of the categories of easements, but very little discussed among the legal public. As we have already mentioned, these easements arise ex lege and are a restriction of the right of ownership for reasons of public interest. Some authors, however, point to a contradiction with the Constitution of the Slovak Republic or the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms, as well as with Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These documents guarantee “The right of every natural or legal person to the peaceful enjoyment of his or her property” as well as “No one may be deprived of his or her property except in the public interest and under the conditions laid down by law and the general principles of international law”. In this connection, we point out that these provisions do not prohibit the State from enacting legislation which would restrict to a certain extent the individual’s right to property if the general interest is secured. Thus, based on this statement, legal easements constitute a restriction on the right to property under Section 123 of the Civil Code, which authorises the owner to act only within the limits of the law. It follows that the owner is limited by the boundaries of the law and therefore, when a certain law establishes an easement, the owner must tolerate the exercise of that right by someone else. The content of legal easements is in particular the right to establish various networks on someone else’s land, to enter someone else’s land for the purpose of maintaining these networks and the like [31].

One of the typical features of legal easements is that their legal regime is always governed by the so-called rules in force at the date of their creation. Although the old Roman principle that a new law repeals the previous law applies, the provisions of the previous law governing rights over foreign immovable property by way of retrocession remain in force and thus have effect. This means that legal easements created under previous laws continue to exist even after the repeal of those laws. This state of affairs is also documented by the case law of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic in its decision of 25 January 2005, Pl. ÚS 25/04. In this decision, the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic stated that rights to foreign real estate which arose before the Act of the Parliament of the Czech Republic No 458/2000 Coll. on the conditions of business and the exercise of state administration in the energy sectors and on the amendment of certain acts (Energy Act) came into force remain preserved [32].

The most general regulation of easements is contained in §151n to §151p of the Civil Code. This legislation is considered to be lex generalis and thus general legislation for all types of easements. This applies to both easements and easements in rem. Reference is also made in this legislation to legal easements. In particular in §151o(1), first sentence, according to which an easement is created by a written contract, by a will in conjunction with the results of the succession proceedings, by an approved agreement of the heirs, by a decision of the competent authority or by law. However, the last word is essential for the issue of legal easements, according to which easements may also arise directly by operation of law. However, the Civil Code does not specify in which specific cases easements arise by operation of law. In this case, we apply the lex specialis and thus the special legal regulation of easements. The principle lex specialis derogat legi generali also applies in this case, which means that a special or specific rule takes precedence over a general one. As an example of a special legal regulation we can state, for example, Act No. 514/2009 Coll. on transport on railways, Act No. 162/1995 Coll. on cadastre of immovable property, Act No. 251/2012 Coll. on energy [20,33,34]. In the context of the Slovak legal order there is a legal principle that a special legal regulation cancels the general one. However, it should be noted that such easements are sui generis, as they cannot be regarded as private law measures, as they are restrictions of the property right in the public interest and in the sense of public law regulation. The Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic in its decision expressed the opinion that easements established by law have a specific regime, which is governed by public law regulations, on the basis of which the easements were established. Although they have an undeniable public-law element, which is determined by the manner of their creation and the purpose for which they serve, their private-law element cannot be overlooked either [35].

3.2.1. Use of Legal Easements in the Energy Act

As already mentioned, easements arising directly from the law are regulated, for example, in the Energy Act [20]. The legal regulation of underground and overhead electricity distribution lines and the exercise of other related rights is contained in Section 11 of the Energy Act, which defines the totality of the rights of the permit holder, or a person authorised by the permit holder. These authorisations include the performance of permitted activities on electricity or gas installations located on someone else’s property necessary to ensure the operation of the system or network. Authorisation shall be understood as an act which does not cause significant damage to the rights and legally protected interests of the subjects concerned. However, it is not always possible to act in such a way that no harm is caused and, therefore, if harm is imminent, the authorised person is obliged to limit it to the least possible extent. When damage is caused, the law imposes an obligation on the authorised person to restore the land to its original state or to compensate the landowner for the damage caused. In general, before trespassing on another’s land, the person concerned must be notified of the trespass. This is the so-called notification obligation. In practice, however, the statutory exceptions contained in §11 apply, where this notification obligation does not apply. Examples are various accidents or malfunctions on energy equipment most often caused by weather. This list of possible situations where the notification obligation does not apply is exhaustive. It applies that we can only interfere with the right of ownership in necessary cases, at necessary times and on the basis of the law. The above paragraph lists three situations in which there is an exception to the notification obligation, namely

(a)

imminent danger to the life, health or property of persons and in the removal of such situations,

(b)

a state of emergency or its prevention,

(c)

malfunctions, maintenance or accidents on system or network equipment and during their removal [20].

For example, recent incidents have occurred in connection with the cutting of power lines that ran through someone else’s property. This situation was assessed as life-threatening. For this reason, authorised persons entered the property without notification and took all necessary precautions to ensure the protection of the health and property of others.

Section 11(1) of the Energy Act, under (a) to (g), exhaustively defines the entitlements, which are legal easements attached to the ownership of the property in question and are eligible for registration in the Land Registry. The above provision precisely defines the scope of the easement. The holder of the permit may, for example, enter other people’s land and other people’s buildings and facilities to the extent and in the manner necessary for the performance of the permitted activity, remove and clear trees and other vegetation that threaten the safety and security of the property, and remove and clear trees and other vegetation that threaten the safety and security of the property, and remove and clear trees and other vegetation that threaten the safety of the property. The reliability of the operation of energy facilities, if the owner has not done so after a previous call, to enter land or facilities where special telecommunications equipment is located, to establish on someone else’s land outside the built-up area of the municipality’s power lines and electricity transmission and distribution system facilities, gas pipelines, to carry out on someone else’s real estate permitted activities on electricity or gas facilities necessary to ensure the operation of the system or network.

It does not follow from the wording of the Energy Act that the easement must also be shown in the land register in the geodetic information file by the mere plotting of the utility networks. It is valid that the easement may cover either the whole land or only a part of it. Section 11(5) of the Energy Act also regulates liability for damage or for causing certain harm in a special way. In the case of proceedings for damages, the Civil Code applies in the alternative. However, as Bogdan and Barańska or Goh and Kasim point out, the limitation of the right of ownership, as well as the adoption of appropriate measures, including fair valuation, is always very difficult [18,36]. As a rule, the lack of implementation of the rules has led to many disputes that only the court had to resolve in the end. However, it is also for this reason that if a property owner is restricted in the customary use of the property, he or she is entitled to a lump sum compensation for the compulsory restriction of the use of the property. This is the case if compensation is not provided for the establishment of an easement or for the compulsory restriction of the landowner’s use of the land in the protection and security zone. Different ideas on the amount of such compensation were also borne in mind when drafting the law. It applies that if the permit holder and the property owner do not agree on the amount of reasonable lump sum compensation, either of them may apply to the court to decide the amount of reasonable lump sum compensation within six months from the date of the claim with the permit holder. This is a change from the previous legislation, which sought to determine the amount of compensation without the involvement of the court. It was the case that if the permit holder and the property owner did not reach an agreement, the compensation was to be determined by an expert’s report, but the costs of obtaining and drawing up the report were to be borne by the person entitled. The new legislation only emphasised the importance of the right of ownership and directly allowed individual subjects to claim their rights and legally protected interests in court. The objective time limit begins to run from the moment of the compulsory restriction of the possibility of using the property. This is defined in the law as one year from the occurrence of the compulsory restriction on the use of immovable property. At the same time, the law also provides for a second subjective period of six months from the date on which the owner became aware of the restriction. Upon the expiry of the time limit, the owner’s right to a one-off compensation for the compulsory restriction of the use of the property expires. The rights corresponding to the easements shall be transferred to the new holder of the right when the holder of the right changes [37].

3.2.2. Consequences Arising from the Restriction of the Right of Ownership by a Legal Easement

The management of energy structures brings with it several constraints that individual landowners will have to endure as a result. Energy structures include a range of electrical distribution lines, control equipment and the like. It, therefore, involves the establishment of buffer zones along with a number of restrictions for the owners of the property on which the energy structures are located. The extent to which property rights are restricted and the extent to which the land is usable is influenced by the location of the energy structure. Greater restrictions are imposed by the above-ground location of the structure and there are fewer restrictions if the structure is underground. If we discuss the existence of a restriction, it will be necessary to establish the extent to which it restricts the landowner, and appropriate compensation will have to be determined accordingly [38].

To determine the amount of compensation, it will be necessary to determine the annual benefit linked to that part of the land to which the restriction of the right of ownership results from the description of the easement in the contract or directly in the relevant law. For example, in the case of building land, the value of this annual benefit will be determined as the normal rent in respect of the locality. Of course, there are also cases where it is not possible to determine the exact amount of this rent, in which case the so-called simulated rent is used. The simulated rent is determined as a percentage of the price of the land at the level of the current price as shown in the municipality’s price map, determined in accordance with the price regulations. Easements may also be established on land on which there are no specific energy facilities. These are plots of land over which, in the event of repairs or maintenance, only the right of way to the energy installations will need to be used. However, such a right cannot be confused with a right of way that can be established over adjacent land under the Civil Code, which is neither a permanent right of way nor a right of re-use. In this case, however, we are then faced with the problem of resolving the question of compensation for damages, since we cannot determine the extent of the restriction on the right of ownership. As is clear from the explanatory memorandum to the draft Energy Act, it is important to summarise and evaluate the documents identified in order to determine the value of the easement in this case [39].

As we have already stated, legal easements under the Energy Act are sui generis easements. However, this fact does not exclude that there is also a general regulation under the Civil Code, which can be followed in certain situations and that there is also the most general regulation in the form of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic [40]. The fact that the owner must tolerate the existence of a legal easement is a fact that cannot be avoided. However, the failure to provide compensation for such legal easement would be in conflict with the principles of the material legal state contained in Article 1 of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic. Article 20(1) of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic also guarantees the same legal content and protection of property rights. This means that any distribution that would make a distinction in the amount of compensation or cause a denial of compensation for a restriction is unconstitutional. Pursuant to §124 in conjunction with §128 paragraph 2 of the Civil Code, the right to property may be restricted, but only for this purpose, only based on the law and for compensation. At the same time, all owners have the same rights and obligations and are afforded the same legal protection. The Civil Code also allows for the existence of legal easements, but these must be established in return for compensation. Each owner/co-owner of the land concerned is entitled to such compensation [26].

In addition to the national legislation, judgments, and decisions at the European Union level also confer legal protection. Interference with the peaceful enjoyment of property must strike a fair balance between the needs of the public interest and the requirements of the protection of the fundamental rights of the individual. The conditions under which compensation is granted are decisive for assessing whether the contested measure respects the required fair balance and whether it does not constitute an unreasonable burden on the particular subject. In that connection, the deprivation of property without compensation commensurate with its value generally constitutes a disproportionate interference which cannot be justified in the light of Article 1 of Additional Protocol No 1 to the European Convention. However, that Article does not guarantee the right to full compensation in all circumstances, since legitimate public interest objectives may require compensation of less than full market value [40].

3.3. Easements—Historical Development

Encumbrances as one of the categories of rights in rem over another’s property were already known to the ancient Romans. Roman Empire was one of the first to create a coherent system of legal institutes, which, with variations, are also used in today’s modern European states. Roman law regulated easements under the name of servitudes [40]. Historically, the development of easements in the territory of the Slovak Republic lasted for a very long time, whereby we can conclude that the legal regulation of easements was certainly not uniform. Historically, the first comprehensive legal regulation of easements and real encumbrances in the territory of the Slovak Republic was the Civil Code of 1811. As Rebro and Blaho state, the basis of this regulation was the result of several centuries of development, but the complete basis was Law XII of the Tables in ancient Rome [41]. In ancient Rome, easements were rights in rem over another’s property, which consisted of the freedom to use them, given to a certain person. The basis of the servitude was that the grantee could use the alien thing only to a limited extent. According to their content, easements were distinguished into two basic categories, namely positive and negative. Positive servitudes were those which entitled to a certain activity. That is to say, a positive definition was associated with a certain entitlement, whereas the opposite negative definition was associated with a certain obligation. By obligation, one should imagine the obligation of the owner to tolerate something [42].

According to Bradáč and Kehoe, the whole Roman system of servitude was based on a number of principles, which also formed an unwritten part of the legal order. Examples include the principle of servitus in faciendo consistere nequit, which meant that servitude did not consist in a certain action by the owner. The principle Servitutibus civiliter utendum est meant that any servitude must be performed with consideration, with the aim of causing the least possible harm to the owner. Another, according to him, the interesting principle was the principle Servitus per partes adquiri non potest, which translated means that servitude cannot be acquired only in part, i.e., servitudes are indivisible. One of the last principles applied in connection with servitude is Locare servitutem nemo potest, which states that no one can lease a land servitude to someone else [43,44].

As Ménard H. Pallas further states in his work Roman law distinguished two basic types of servitude, and these were personal and land servitudes. We can also see this division in the current legislation, where we distinguish between easements in rem and in personam. This example shows the application of the Roman regulation in today’s modern law [45]. There are several differences between land and personal easements. An example is the duration, where land easements were tied to the land, i.e., their existence was conditional on the existence of the land. Personal servitudes were only temporary, lasting at the latest until the death of the beneficiary. Another difference was that land easements could not be conditional or limited in time, but personal easements could be limited in time. However, both types, whether personal or land, belong within the category of servitudes, so it follows from the nature of the case that they must also have had certain principles in common. One of these was that the owner of a usufruct could not create an easement over the thing he owned. The common features were also the inadmissibility of the establishment of a further easement to the existing easement [46].

A deeper theoretical elaboration of the law of property only emerged in the Middle Ages, thanks to the Roman law schools. These were based on the ideas of Roman jurists, who stood out in particular for their theoretical knowledge. As Pejo and Kolaneci state, legal theory was subsequently refined to solve legal problems [47]. The literature on Roman law commonly includes property rights and rights in rem over another’s property, which constituted servitudes, in rights in rem. Servitudes were rights in rem, authorising the use or enjoyment of a foreign thing. Especially from the 13th century onwards, the results of court decrees and transfers of property began to be transcribed into land records. No one could be forced to write them down and the principle of liberty was applied in this period. A set of public registers was created; this set consisted of land plates, upper registers, land registers and railway registers [43]. The easements were divided into land easements and personal easements, the land easements being inextricably bound up with a particular piece of land. By this period, however, their subdivision was already coming about. In the first place, these were positive land servitudes. These were those easements which allowed the grantee to act on the servient land, mainly pavement easements. The second type was negative land easements, these were those in which the landowner could not do something to which he was otherwise entitled as owner. Personal easements were inextricably linked to a particular person. The authority was tied to that person. The main personal servitudes were distinguished as usufruct and usufruct. The right of usufruct was a servitude which entitled us to use and enjoy another’s thing. The object of the usufruct could be both immovable and movable. The right of usufruct is an easement which entitles the usufructuary to use the object [42].

A voluntary servitude is created by a contract establishing a servitude. A judicial servitude was created by a decree of the division of the common property; it also included the creation by a decree of the administrative authority in a case of expropriation. The statutory right of servitude arose directly from the law. Extinction of easements occurred in particular: death of the beneficiary, extinction of the subject matter of the easement, lapse of time, limitation, revocation. Servitudes were divided according to how the right of servitude was combined with the possession of the land, so that it could be enjoyed with greater benefit or convenience; then a land servitude was created. Otherwise, it was a personal servitude [48]. Land servitudes provided for two holders of land, one of whom, as obligor, was entitled to the ’servient estate’. To the other, as the beneficiary, the ’lordly estate’. The lord’s estate was intended either for field farming or for some other use, hence the distinction between house and field easements.

As Luby adds, Roman law provided a certain foundation for almost all European legal orders, and it was no different in the territory of today’s Slovak Republic, where, for a very long time common law was the source of law. It follows that there was a lack of a certain formal codification [49].

The first comprehensive work that included the treatment of servitudes and the real legal easement was the General Civil Code of 1811 [50]. The concept of servitude was enshrined therein in §472, according to which by the law of servitude, the owner is obliged to suffer or forget something for the benefit of another person in respect of his property. It is a right in rem against every holder of an easement. One of the major and ground-breaking modifications in this code was the provision of absolute protection to easements. The purpose of providing absolute protection was to ensure the peaceful enjoyment of that right. In this legislation, easements were divided into two basic categories, namely, land easements and personal easements. Land servitudes certainly included the right of passage, the right of conveyance of livestock or waggon roads, and the right to break stone, dig sand and burn lime. Among the personal, we might include usufruct. The essence of this right was that the grantee used another’s thing for his own use, but the condition was that he must not disturb its substance. The problem with this codification was that it lasted only a very short time. In 1860, Hungarian law was reintroduced in the territory of the Slovak Republic. At this time, the so-called Judexcurial Conference was held, but it created a kind of provisional legislation which was to last only until the new Hungarian Civil Code was issued. However, despite several efforts, this new Civil Code was not adopted, and after the end of the First World War, the Austro-Hungarian monarchy came to an end, and the Czechoslovak Republic was established.

The newly established Czechoslovak Republic took over the legal order of the defunct monarchy by Act No. 11/1918 Coll. on the establishment of the independent Czechoslovak state and continued the legal dualism [51]. It was a legal state when Austrian customary law was applied in the territory of Bohemia and Moravia, and Hungarian law was applied in the territory of Slovakia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia. This undesirable state of affairs lasted until 25 October 1950, when the National Assembly of the Czechoslovak Republic adopted Act No 141/1950 Coll., the Civil Code [52]. Thus, as Matejková et al. state, in Czechoslovakia, a new Civil Code was adopted in 1950, which was no longer based on the Civil Code of 1811; it did not respect its natural legal principles. On the contrary, it was influenced by Soviet legal doctrine. The “Sovietization” of private law spread in all the states of the Soviet bloc. Thus, the 1950 Civil Code was adopted in a very tragic period, when human rights were systematically violated, and natural law principles were abrogated [53]. From the point of view of rights in rem, there was no longer a distinction between easements and real burdens. In its ninth chapter, i.e., in §166–§187 has been for the first time, a new legal institute called easements was established. Paragraph 166 provided that an easement is a restriction on the owner of a thing in favour of someone else, namely that this owner is obliged to suffer something, refrain from something or possibly do something. In the next §167, the division of rights corresponding to easements into in rem and in personam was anchored. The right corresponding to an easement in rem was linked to a certain immovable property, whereas the right corresponding to an easement in personam was linked to a certain person. In the first case, that right did not cease on the death of the owner but passed to the new owner of the encumbered property. In the second case, by the very nature of the case, it was extinguished by death, since it attached to a specific person. The creation of easements was also regulated only superficially by the wording that the provisions on the acquisition of ownership apply mutatis mutandis to the acquisition of rights corresponding to easements. It should be noted that the regulation of easements in rem was not further specified in the Civil Code, but the regulation in personam was precisely regulated in §172–§185. Despite the efforts of the legislature at the time, the adoption of the 1950 Civil Code did not eliminate all the problems because it did not fully reflect the conditions, legal relations and needs which had developed at that stage of the development of socialism [54]. This state of affairs resulted in the relatively short life of the 1950 Civil Code because already on 26 February 1964, the National Assembly of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic adopted Act No. 64/1964 Coll., the Civil Code, which, by §509, point 1, repealed the 1950 Civil Code [55].

The result of this amendment was an even worse legal situation in the field of easements, which was decimated by the reduction in easements to only Sections 495 and 506. Section 495 provided that easements restrict the owner of a thing so that he is obliged either to suffer something, to do something or to refrain from doing something. It also provided that the only permissible mode of creation was by operation of law, and that they passed with the ownership of the thing to the successor. In this provision, however, it is possible, for the first time, to see a hint of some sort of legal (lawful) easements, which arise directly from the law. The Civil Code of 1950 thus allowed many more possibilities for the creation of easements. This was abolished by the Civil Code in 1964, with the exception so that the only permissible possibility for the creation of easements was by operation of law. However, such a truncated state of affairs was contrary to a societal need. This deficiency gave rise to an undesirable lay interpretation of the possibility of creating easements ’by operation of law’. In the broader sense of the word, therefore, the concept of ‘creation by law’ was understood by the population as a kind of authorisation for the state authorities, in particular the national committees, to issue a decision on the creation of an easement. Section 506 of the Civil Code contained a transitional provision according to which the rights and obligations arising from easements which had arisen before the new Civil Code came into force were governed by the provisions of Section 495 unless they were governed by special regulations. Probably the most important regulation in terms of legal easements was the special regulation in some regulations. As Fekete states, the Civil Code provided a general starting point, and this special regulation was already regulated under specific legislation. It is worth mentioning Act No 51/1964 Coll. on railways, Act No 110/1964 Coll. on telecommunications, and Act No 46/1971 Coll. on surveying and cartography [28]. These laws did not directly contain the designation “easement”, but in terms of content and connection with the ownership of the real estate, they can be considered as easements in a similar manner to the statutory creation of easements; the legislator regulated the issue of extinguishment of easements. An example is also Article 396 of Act No 109/1964 Coll., Economic Code, according to which on the date of acquisition of property into State socialist ownership, mortgages and easements on that property cease to exist [56]. Overall, therefore, the promulgated version of the 1964 Civil Code was not sufficient in terms of addressing the issue of easements, as it did not address common social needs. This resulted in the need to adopt an extended legal regulation. The 1964 Civil Code was amended by the adoption of Act No 131/1982 Coll. amending the Civil Code and regulating certain other property relations of 9 November 1982 [57]. This amendment also extended the institution of easements. A general regulation was introduced in §135b and §135c. In §135b, the concept of easements was defined in such a way that easements restricted the owner of the immovable property and the person to whom the right of personal use of the land belonged to suffering something, doing something or refraining from doing something for the benefit of the person entitled. Similarly to present legislation, a dispositive provision was introduced in the second paragraph, under which the person entitled to use the thing was obliged to bear the reasonable costs of its maintenance and repair. In §135c, the creation and termination of easements was regulated. In total, there were five possibilities for the creation of easements, namely by law, by decision of the authorised body, by written contract, by will and by execution of the right [58].

On the basis of the change in the social system in 1989, Act No. 509/1991 Coll. of the Federal Assembly of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic amending, supplementing and modifying the Civil Code [59] was adopted. This amendment to the Civil Code brought the institute of easements to its present form.

From the point of view of legal easements contained in a legal provision other than the Civil Code, the most interesting was the creation directly by law. Easements could arise either on the basis of legislation issued before the adoption of the amendment or after its entry into force. As an example, Act No 89/1987 Coll., on the production, distribution and consumption of heat, may serve as an example. Article 20(1) and (4) states that (1) Investors or operators of heat distribution installations shall be entitled to:

(a)

to establish on other people’s real estate facilities for the distribution of heat to the extent resulting from the building permit, and to operate these facilities,

(b)

to enter in connection with the establishment and alteration, or operation, repair, maintenance and removal of heat distribution facilities on the access, passage and affected properties of others,

(c)

remove and trim only to the extent necessary trees and other vegetation obstructing heat distribution facilities.

The rights under this paragraph were thus legal easements on the properties concerned and were not registered in the real estate register [60]. In this case, we see the existence of a specific statutory provision for legal easements. The above-mentioned previous legislation did not contain a specific provision on easements. However, we are satisfied that they were easements. In the present case, the law allowed operators to enter onto someone else’s property, to establish distribution facilities on someone else’s property and to operate them at the same time. The content of that mandatory provision shows that it is a clear statutory restriction on the right of ownership. This condition is confirmed by Article 20(4), which already explicitly mentions that this authorisation of the operator is an easement that is not registered in the real estate register. Of course, if there is already a substantial restriction of the right of ownership, a one-off compensation will be granted. However, the operators or beneficiaries were obliged to spare the properties concerned, including vegetation and crops, when exercising the rights. This obligation was directly imposed on them by the law in Article 21(1).

Just as the creation of easements was regulated, so was their termination directly in the amended Civil Code from 1964. These were the following methods of extinction: by law, by decision of the authorized body, by contract, by death of the authorized person, by merger, by expiry of the term and by fulfilment of the termination condition. The new regulation also provides for the limitation of the right corresponding to the easement. According to §109, this occurs if the right corresponding to the easement has not been exercised for ten years. This part of the legislation has been maintained to the present day [28].

3.4. Easements in the Czech Republic

Encumbrances belong to the rights in rem to another’s property and serve to enable the beneficiary to benefit from a certain part of the utility value of another’s property, and for the owner of the property, it means that he is, in turn, obliged to give, act, suffer or refrain from doing something. In 2012, a new Civil Code was adopted in the Czech Republic, published in the Collection of Laws under No. 89/2012 with effect from 1 January 2014 [61]. It replaced the original, still common Czechoslovak Civil Code of 1964. As Kabelková states, according to the content of the obligation, it distinguishes between easements and real encumbrances. For these purposes, the previous legislation provided for the aggregate concept of the easement, which was defined only as a kind of abstract concept and is retained in use in the current legislation for reasons of continuity with the previous legislation [62].

3.4.1. Servitudes

The very name easement implies that the thing is intended to serve someone other than its owner. Thus, an easement is distinguished from a real encumbrance by the passivity of the owner of the thing, who is obliged by virtue of the easement to endure some action (e.g., walking across his own land) or to refrain from acting (e.g., not building on his own land above a certain height) [43]. An easement may encumber both immovable and movable things. In the Civil Code, the list of easements is only demonstrative, and their regulation is only recommendatory (dispositive). This means that the content of an easement may be negotiated by way of derogation. However, the passivity of the owner (i.e., to tolerate, not to act) must be observed. An easement serves the thing in possession, which means that the owner of the easement is limited in favour of the owner of the thing in possession. At the same time, however, an easement may also serve a particular person (e.g., a housing easement). An owner may also mutually encumber his or her various parcels of land with an easement. The possibility to establish an easement over one’s real property is referred to as an owner’s easement. Such a solution may be practical for the case where he decides to transfer one of the plots to another person, as it saves him possible difficulties in negotiating with the future owner.

In terms of legal protection, an easement is viewed as a property right, but neither land nor personal easements can be transferred, they are tied to a specific piece of land and person, and a change in owner does not affect the binding nature of the easement [53].

3.4.2. Types of Servitudes

The Civil Code defines only certain types of servitudes. However, if the need arises in practice to establish an easement that is not mentioned in the law, there is nothing to prevent the parties from doing so. The regulation deals with the specific features of each of them, which it considers useful to define in the law in case the parties do not decide on different—more convenient for them—rules. As can be seen from the provisions of Article 1267 et seq. of the Civil Code, important servitudes include, for example:

• Land easements
• Utility easements (water, sewer, power or other lines)
• Easement of another’s building (maintenance of walls or supports)
• Eave easement (from your roof onto someone else’s real property)
• Easement for stormwater runoff (from a neighbour’s roof onto your property)
• Water right (e.g., to water on someone else’s property)
• Easement of sidewalk, ditch and road
• Grazing rights
• Personal easements
• Easement (the right to use another’s property for his own use and that of his household)
• Right of usufruct (right to use another’s thing and to take the fruits and benefits of it)
• Servitude of the dwelling (use of the dwelling)
• Acquisition, creation and extinction of an easement

Section 1260 of the Civil Code enumerates the ways in which a servitude may be acquired. These contract, acquisition on death, and retentions for the period necessary to retain the ownership of the thing to be encumbered by the easement, by law or by decision of a public authority (court or administrative authority). As it follows from the provision of Article 1262 of the Civil Code, an easement is created either by registration in a public register, if it is established in respect of the thing registered therein (typically, e.g., the land registry), or by the effectiveness of a contract in the case of easements established otherwise. An easement is extinguished by a permanent change for which it can no longer serve the servient estate or the beneficiary; by deletion from the public register by agreement to cancel it [9]; if the period for which it was created has expired. A personal servitude also ceases on the death of the person entitled. However, an easement does not terminate by the merger of the ownership of the obligor and the beneficiary in one person.

3.4.3. Duration and Limitation

In the case of the creation of an easement by possession, the law on possession applies by analogy, i.e., in the case of movable things, the right must be held for 3 years and in the case of immovable things for ten years of use. Rights corresponding to easements are also subject to prescription. Rights over land are time-barred after ten years if they have not been exercised. What is stated in the Civil Code about the possession of a property right applies by analogy to the possession of other rights in rem. The Civil Code does not provide for special rules on the possession of other rights in rem [62].

As Eliáš et al. point out, it is not uncommon for people in a village to walk freely on a road across private land since time immemorial, to cut their way across a private footbridge, or to go to a well on private land to fetch water, and the owner of the land does not prevent this. If this is performed in good faith that the road or water access is public, given freely to the public, there may be a prescription of the right of way, passage, or access to the water after ten years. The municipality in which the easement is located becomes the holder of the public domain [63].

3.4.4. Real Easements

Real easements are characterised by the fact that they oblige the owner of an easement to actively do something for the benefit of another person, to provide him with some benefit (e.g., to provide a part of the harvest that has been born on his land). The temporary owner of the thing is obliged as a debtor to the beneficiary to give or do something to him. Only a thing registered in a public register can be encumbered with a real burden. It is typical of real encumbrances that they can be created either for a certain period of time or with the possibility for the owner of the encumbered thing to redeem himself from the encumbrance [63]. If the obligation under the real encumbrance is not fulfilled, the beneficiary is instead entitled to monetary compensation, for which he may pursue the enforcement of the decision (or execution) on the immovable property, which is encumbered by the real encumbrance.

3.4.5. Easements with a Public Element

These are cases where the owner’s property intersects with a facility, forming part of a public infrastructure network. These encumbrances have a relatively permanent impact on the rights and obligations of both the property owner and the operator of the public infrastructure network. The easements established in favour of the operator of the public infrastructure network differ from the general regulation of easements in particular in the existence of a public interest which goes beyond the personal interests of the beneficiary and the obligor, possibly also compounded by the legal obligation of the operator of the public infrastructure network to enter into such easements [64].

Easements established by law are similar in nature to easements under the Civil Code, and the regulation in other legislation (e.g., the Energy Act) is a special regulation. Given the transitional provisions of the Civil Code, there is, in principle, no need to translate the change in terminology immediately into the legal order. It is assumed that the change in the rest of the terminology will take place gradually when amendments to individual legal acts are adopted or when new legal acts are adopted.

3.5. Functions of Easements in the Context of Sustainable Land Use and Infrastructure Development in Smart Cities

Since easements belong to the category of rights in rem to a foreign thing, their function is to provide the entitled subject with the relevant right to the foreign thing, which is implemented in such a way that the owner of the encumbered thing is limited in his property right in certain ways. Therefore, the functions of easements do not correspond to a legal relationship in which, although the owner is restricted in a certain way, that restriction is not a right with respect to a foreign object. The case law also confirms this theoretical conclusion by stating that an easement cannot restrict the owner from disposing the object of its ownership. Disposing of the object of ownership means transferring the immovable object to another person or even encumbering it with another right in rem. Very close to the easement in rem nature is the right of pre-emption, which was negotiated as a right in rem, but we do not consider this right to be an easement in rem, although it does have an easement in rem effect. The functions which easements perform can be derived from the role they play in social relations. The function of easements is primarily to achieve better satisfaction of the interests of individual subjects, either by contributing to a better socio-economic utilisation of the use value of things or by directly providing for their needs by making it possible to realise part of the use value of other people’s things. If the function of easements is not fulfilled, the legal order has established certain sanctions. One of these sanctions is the termination of the easement, which is defined in Article 151p of the Civil Code. It is also important to think about the fulfilment of the function of easements when establishing easements. Why is it important to consider the functions of easements also when establishing them? Because an easement that does not serve to fulfil its function must be considered invalid. Primarily because of circumvention of the law, for example, to make it more difficult to sell a property that is in foreclosure by encumbering that property with an easement [65].

Legal easements can also play a key role in infrastructure development and sustainable land use in smart cities since their main function is to allow limited use of real estate by non-owners. In the context of smart cities, easements can also be used in the following ways.

• Support for infrastructure development: legal easements allow access to land needed for the construction and maintenance of key infrastructure such as energy networks (e.g., smart grids), renewable energy networks, data connectivity cables and sensor networks. This approach is essential for the functioning of the digital infrastructure that underpins the smart city.
• Improving mobility and accessibility: easements allow the creation of access routes for public and green transport, such as cycle paths, pedestrian zones or charging stations for electric vehicles. These access points promote sustainable mobility that reduces traffic congestion and emissions in cities, an important aspect of a smart city.
• Promoting green and blue infrastructure: easements can be established to protect and maintain green belts, water corridors or local ecosystems that contribute to resilience to climate change. These easements can include access to ecological care and management of natural resources in the city, thereby promoting the ecological sustainability of the urban environment.
• Community and government involvement: Smart cities emphasise collaboration between public administrations, communities and the private sector. Easements can foster such forms of cooperation by allowing more flexible use of land for public projects. In this way, residents can be involved in the planning and management process, thereby supporting the bottom-up approach to decision-making that is characteristic of smart governance.
• Resolving conflicts between private property and the public interest: easements serve as a legal tool to balance individual property rights and the needs of society, which is crucial in the development of smart infrastructure. They allow the deployment of technological and environmental projects without the need for a complete transfer of ownership, thus minimising conflicts between the public and private sectors [66]. Legal easements thus serve as a flexible legal instrument that promotes sustainable and efficient land use within the smart city concept. They help to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants and ensure the ecological and social sustainability of the urban environment.

Based on the Energy Act analysis, we conclude that legal easements play a key role in developing and maintaining present energy infrastructure. Such a state of affairs is the basis for starting to build smart cities that emphasise sustainability and efficient energy management. Legal easements allow access to private or otherwise restricted land for the construction, maintenance and expansion of energy facilities and networks [67].

Legal easements thus have a wide range of applications in multiple directions in today’s modern smart cities:

• Facilitating access for sustainable infrastructure development

  (a)

  Energy infrastructure: easements allow access to land for the construction and maintenance of energy networks such as solar panels, wind turbines or smart grids. These energy resources promote renewable energy and more efficient management of consumption, helping to reduce the City’s carbon footprint.

  (b)

  Telecommunication networks and digital connectivity: legal easements enable the deployment of communication infrastructure such as fibre optic cables, base stations for 5G or IoT sensors, which are essential for the efficient management of urban services in smart cities, including traffic management, environmental monitoring and optimisation of energy resources [68].

• Promoting green mobility and reducing transport emissions

  (a)

  Cycleways and pedestrian zones: legal easements enable the creation of access routes for green mobility, such as cycleways and pedestrian zones, which promote healthier lifestyles and reduce the number of cars in the city centre.

  (b)

  Electric vehicle charging stations: locating electric vehicle charging stations on land accessible through easements increases the availability of these stations, thereby encouraging the use of electric vehicles and reducing reliance on fossil fuels [8].

• Promoting green and blue infrastructure

  (a)

  Green belts and urban greenery: Easements can be used to protect and manage green belts, which contribute to reducing temperatures in urban areas, improve air quality and promote biodiversity. These green areas also provide relaxation and recreational places for residents.

  (b)

  Water corridors and water management: access to land for water management projects such as retention basins or natural flood zones can be secured through easements. These measures reduce the risk of flooding and contribute to the city’s resilience to climate change [69].

• Resolving conflicts between private property and the public interest

  (a)

  Public utility projects: legal easements are key for cases where private property needs to be encroached upon for the development of infrastructure or the provision of public services. In this way, public access and sustainable land use can be efficiently provided without the need for full land acquisition, which can be extremely time-consuming.

  (b)

  Minimising legal disputes: by enshrining easements in law, the needs of the public and the rights of owners can be effectively balanced. This reduces the risk of disputes between the public sector and private actors, thereby speeding up the implementation of sustainable projects [70].

• Promoting community involvement and transparent governance

  (a)

  Participatory planning: within the smart cities concept, easements allow for better community involvement in planning and land use, for example in the designation of access roads, cycle paths or public spaces. This participatory approach promotes inclusiveness and transparency in decision-making.

  (b)

  Shared spaces and shared use: through easements, it is possible to create shared spaces that can serve a variety of purposes—from recreational areas to urban garden spaces that contribute to social cohesion and community development [71].

3.5.1. Facilitating Access for Sustainable Infrastructure Development

Legal easements, according to our opinion, can play a key role in the development and maintenance of energy infrastructure in the context of smart cities, which emphasise sustainability and efficient energy management. They allow access to private or otherwise restricted land for the construction, maintenance and expansion of energy facilities and networks. In practice, this approach can be applied, for example, to the construction of solar panels and photovoltaic power plants. For these constructions, easements can be established to allow solar panels to be located on suitable land, on the roofs of buildings or in open spaces belonging to private owners. These panels are key to reducing the City’s dependence on fossil fuels and encourage the production of clean energy directly at the point of consumption, thereby reducing the costs and emissions associated with energy transmission. However, the use of legal easements is not limited to photovoltaics; however, the approach can be equally applied to wind turbines and wind farms. In areas with suitable climatic conditions, especially in larger cities or adjacent areas, legal easements can provide access to land for the construction of wind turbines. Wind energy provides an efficient way to generate electricity with minimal negative impact on the environment. Legal easements can also be used to build smart grids, which form the basis of smart cities. Smart grids enable two-way communication between consumers and energy suppliers. Easements can provide access to land for the installation of sensors, controllers and other equipment needed to optimise electricity supply in real time. Such systems allow for better management of power flows, fault detection, and more efficient power distribution, thereby minimising losses and outages. Smart grids, which are implemented through legal easements, provide cities with the ability to better manage energy consumption and integrate renewable resources. Such grids can respond immediately to rising demand, use energy storage (e.g., from battery storage) and reduce excess withdrawals, which reduces pressure on the electricity grid and emissions [72].

Legal easements allow access to land for the construction of energy storage facilities that can store energy generated by renewable sources (e.g., solar or wind energy) during times of low demand, and then it would be possible to distribute it at times of higher consumption. This allows for balancing fluctuations in renewable generation and reducing the need for backup power plants using fossil fuels. Legal easements can also encourage the creation of microgrids, which are stand-alone energy systems that can operate independently of the main electricity grid when needed. Microgrids allow local government units (such as hospitals, schools, or residential neighbourhoods) to secure a reliable source of power even during outages. These microgrids often combine batteries, renewables and smart technologies to maximise sustainability and fault tolerance. To reduce the carbon footprint of the smart city, there is also the possibility of optimising the energy infrastructure through legal easements. Cities use many facilities, and in the transition to low-emission and low-energy facilities, it is possible, through access to land secured by easements, to build energy infrastructure that uses renewable resources efficiently and minimises emissions. Access to multiple sites allows for geographic diversification of energy sources, which reduces the overall impact on nature and avoids overburdening one particular point. It is also possible to link these facilities to other urban systems. Energy systems can be linked to other urban systems, such as public lighting, traffic management or public realm landscaping, thereby increasing energy efficiency and sustainability. Such systems can react to actual consumption and production in real time, thereby promoting active reductions in energy consumption and waste [73].

Legal easements would allow cities access to private or public land for the construction and operation of telecommunications infrastructure. That is key to the functioning of smart cities. They allow the deployment of a wide range of technologies, such as fibre optic cables, base stations for 5G or Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, which support digital connectivity and access to the data needed for efficient management of urban systems. Connectivity through fibre optic cables and high-speed internet is a fundamental pillar of smart cities. Fibre optic cables are a prerequisite for the spread of high-speed internet connectivity, which is essential for, among other things, modern urban services and business. Legal easements create scope for dealing with the problems of installing these cables. In practice, it is often the case that it can take years to obtain permission to lay cables, which ultimately reduces their relevance and effect in the context of smart cities, as smart cities need to have the latest technologies implemented as quickly as possible. The installed high-speed internet then supports fast and stable data transmissions, which is the basis for smart city applications. Not to mention that, thanks to legal easement, access to digital infrastructure can also be improved in less accessible or economically disadvantaged areas of the city. This is important for the inclusive development of smart cities, where all residents have the opportunity to benefit from digital connectivity, such as telemedicine, e-learning, and other online services, thereby reducing the digital divide. In connection with fibre optic cables, the importance of legal easements in the construction of base stations for 5G networks cannot be overlooked. These are essential to support the growing number of IoT devices in smart cities that need uninterrupted, high-speed connectivity. Legal easements allow these base stations to be placed in urban areas and on private land, ensuring even coverage and strong signals throughout the city. As we have mentioned in previous articles, 5G networks offer extremely low latency, which is important for systems that are being installed in autonomous vehicles that require immediate responses. Legal encumbrances on land access for 5G infrastructure support seamless vehicle movement, traffic management and other real-time services, increasing the efficiency and safety of urban systems [74].

Another of the basic elements of smart cities is the so-called IoT sensors, which can be placed on buildings, streetlights, bridges or public parks, and which collect data on traffic, air quality, energy consumption, and other factors. The use of legal easements allows cities to place these sensors in strategic areas on private property, ensuring efficient data collection from across the city. The data collected allows cities to tailor and optimise city services. For example, sensors monitoring traffic density can contribute to the dynamic management of traffic lights to reduce congestion. Other sensors can monitor the occupancy of public spaces or the condition of infrastructure, facilitating efficient maintenance and improving safety. IoT sensors connected to smart grids allow accurate monitoring of energy consumption in different parts of the city. This provides cities with a detailed view of consumption patterns and helps to adjust energy supply based on demand. For example, based on consumption data, cities can shift energy to where it is needed or conserve it during low-consumption periods. IoT sensors placed in different parts of the city monitor air quality and warn of pollution or emissions of harmful substances. This allows cities to take preventive measures and implement green policies. In this way, easements make it possible to place these sensors in places with a high need for monitoring, thus improving the quality of life of the inhabitants. The availability of high-speed internet and 5G networks allows startups and technology companies to test and implement new digital applications and solutions directly in urban environments. Access to land where key infrastructure elements can be located supports the development of a variety of applications—from smart parking to virtual health consultations—that improve the lives of residents and support economic growth. Telecommunications infrastructure development requires experts in a variety of fields—from technical engineers to data analysts. Building, maintaining and managing these networks creates new job opportunities and develops the local labour market. Modern telecommunications networks enable secure data transmissions and support cyber protection for urban systems. Easements that allow access to the installation of security technologies, such as firewall systems and VPN access points, are essential for protecting residents’ personal data. This security helps protect digital data and is important for gaining public trust in smart city applications. As the volume of sensitive data that cities collect and process grows, it is imperative to ensure that these systems are sufficiently protected against cyber-attacks. Legal easements may allow for the placement of data encryption devices or other security technologies to secure city systems [75].

3.5.2. Promoting Green Mobility in Smart Cities

Legal easements would also find their use in connection with building green and sustainable infrastructure in smart cities, in particular by promoting green mobility and reducing transport emissions. This is achieved by developing cycle paths and pedestrian zones, as well as installing charging stations for electric vehicles, thus creating space for healthier, greener and less burdened urban life. It should be stressed that the promotion of green mobility is also, along with the development of smart and sustainable infrastructure, one of the main pillars of the concept of modern smart cities. Legal easements allow cities access to private land to build bicycle and pedestrian pathways. These pathways promote safe bicycle and pedestrian movement, thereby reducing the need for automobile use. By creating comprehensive cycling and walking networks, cities become more accessible and less dependent on car transport. At the same time, cycle and pedestrian routes encourage people to be physically active, contributing to healthier lifestyles. Access to land that allows safe movement off main roads encourages residents to cycle more, which has a positive impact on their physical and mental health. The construction of cycle paths and pedestrian zones in town centres also contributes to the reduction in car traffic, thereby reducing emissions and noise. Fewer cars on the road means fewer pollutants in the air and a better quality of life for residents. Such solutions are key for cities that want to achieve climate goals and reduce their ecological footprint. Easements that allow cities to access land to build pedestrian zones also bring benefits in terms of local community development. Pedestrian zones and cycle paths become places of gathering and recreation, promoting social interaction and a sense of belonging [76].

The availability of charging stations is one of the key factors in promoting the use of electric vehicles. With easements, cities can secure suitable land for charging stations in strategic locations such as car parks, public spaces or commercial zones. The availability of these stations facilitates the use of electric vehicles and makes them more attractive to residents. Increasing the number of electric vehicles at the expense of those powered by fossil fuels directly contributes to reducing CO₂ and other harmful emissions. The development of smart cities goes hand in hand with the development of electric cars, which some manufacturers are already trying to design as autonomous [77]. By switching to electromobility, cities significantly reduce their carbon footprint, which is important for achieving climate protection goals. Locating charging stations on private or public land through easements allows cities to distribute these stations evenly across all urban neighbourhoods. The availability of charging stations also on the periphery of the city ensures that electric vehicle users have access to charging at all times, thus promoting greater adaptation to this mode of transport and enhancing mobility even in less accessible areas [78]. The operation of electric vehicles is, in many cases, more economical than that of fossil fuel vehicles. Cities promoting electromobility through the construction of charging stations thus bring fuel and operating cost savings to residents. By supporting these stations, cities can improve the economic accessibility of green transport for all segments of the population. However, the expansion of eco-mobility is not limited to the above aspects, but it should be noted that technologically advanced eco-mobility can also, for example, intelligently manage traffic and thus reduce congestion. The availability of cycle paths, pedestrian zones and charging stations reduces the number of cars in cities, helping to manage traffic more efficiently [79]. Fewer cars mean less congestion and faster adaptation to the transport needs of the population. Intelligent control systems that use traffic data can use these zones to optimise traffic flow and improve the urban environment, and charging stations for electric vehicles can be connected to the city’s energy grid and use renewable energy sources, which is the basis for smart energy management in the city. Such systems can monitor energy consumption and optimise its use, contributing to a more efficient and greener operation of the whole city. Increasing the availability of cycle paths, pedestrian zones, and charging stations can attract tourists who prefer eco-friendly forms of transport and a sustainable urban environment. This can lead to an increase in tourism revenue and support the local economy. Urban planning that incorporates eco-mobility increases the attractiveness of cities for visitors and residents [80]. However, as Funta states, this concept also includes the use of autonomous cars, which have a large number of sensors and camera systems in addition to memory modules and perform permanent data exchange. This has the potential to reveal not only the overall living conditions of passengers but also of pedestrians and others [77].

3.5.3. Promoting Green and Blue Infrastructure

As Chowbury et al. state, urban blue infrastructure provides multiple economic, social and environmental benefits to local residents and can enhance the sustainability of cities. Promoting green and blue infrastructure through legal easements is essential for creating sustainable urban environments in smart cities. This infrastructure contributes not only to improving the quality of life of residents, but also to increasing the environmental resilience of cities [81]. In conjunction with the promotion of green and blue infrastructure, the expansion of green belts and urban green spaces is an elementary basis, which, among other things, reduces the temperature in cities. That is why, under Moretto, land dedication can be a regulatory condition that cities can require to approve development projects. However, land dedication does not just regulate development; it allows a city to preserve undeveloped land [82]. Increasingly, cities are requiring developers to dedicate land to preserve open space. Urban development and transport are often dominated by concrete, asphalt and other heat-absorbing materials, which contribute to the urban heat island effect, where temperatures are higher than in the surrounding rural areas. Also, recent scientific studies (Azadgoleh et al. and Zhang et al.) clearly show that green belts and urban greenery help to absorb heat and cool the environment. Trees and plants also provide shade, further reducing the temperature in the city, which has a positive impact on the health of residents and their quality of life, and generally, vegetation in urban green belts serves as a natural filter to clean the air of pollutants such as dust particles, nitrogen oxides and other pollutants from traffic and industry. It is common knowledge that plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, improving overall air quality and contributing to the fight against climate change [83,84]. Green belts and urban greenery create habitats for different species of fauna and flora, thus promoting biodiversity in urban areas. Protected green belts allow a diversity of flora and fauna to flourish in cities, from birds and insects to smaller mammals. These ecosystems are important not only for the protection of species but also for maintaining ecological balance and stability. Urban green spaces provide residents with space for relaxation, sport and recreation. As we have already stated, green spaces reduce stress and improve the mental health of people who use them for relaxation and leisure activities. Parks, green paths and gardens contribute to social integration and promote healthy lifestyles, thus enhancing the overall quality of life in the city [85].

In the context of building blue infrastructure, legal easements find their application to ensure access to land for water management projects. As Majerčáková and Mittelman state, water enjoys special protection guaranteed by the Constitution in the Slovak Republic [86]. Also, in this context, legal easements are absolutely necessary for providing access to land needed for the construction and maintenance of water corridors and water management facilities by maintaining detention basins, natural flood zones, and other water systems. Cities can effectively regulate runoff and water retention, helping to prevent flooding, which is becoming more frequent due to climate change and extreme precipitation events. Retaining rainwater with retention basins reduces the burden on the sewerage network and allows the retained water to be used, for example, for irrigation of green areas, street cleaning or in industry. This results in a reduction in the consumption of drinking water as well as its efficient use. The easements make it possible to secure the necessary space for these facilities in strategic locations. Natural flood zones, which can be created thanks to easements, help to absorb excess water during heavy rains or floods, while these zones act as natural sponges that hold water and release it gradually, reducing the risk of flooding in urban areas. They also support biodiversity by providing habitats for different species of plants and animals, and water corridors, such as rivers, streams and canals, serve as natural links that improve the circulation of water and facilitate natural runoff from urbanised areas. In urban areas where these corridors are protected by easements, water is managed more efficiently, local microclimates are improved, and the quality of the urban environment is enhanced. These corridors are also aesthetically pleasing and provide space for recreation, which has a positive impact on the quality of life of the inhabitants. In the context of smart cities, the synergy between green infrastructure and urban technologies is very important, especially for the following reasons. Green and blue infrastructure can be integrated with smart technologies, such as sensors and data platforms that monitor air quality, temperature, humidity and water levels, and these data allow city administrators to better monitor the conditions of infrastructure and respond to climate challenges in real time. Easements provide space to house the necessary technologies to protect and effectively manage this infrastructure. Cities that invest in green and blue infrastructure are better able to meet their climate commitments because these measures help to mitigate the impacts of climate change and improve overall ecological stability. Easements ensure that cities can maintain the necessary green and blue spaces over the long term, enabling them to meet climate targets for emissions reduction and adaptation to climate change. Many smart cities also recognise that investing in green and blue infrastructure increases the aesthetic value of a city and makes it more attractive to residents and tourists. Greenery, water bodies, and natural corridors provide pleasant environments to live, recreate, and work, leading to higher resident satisfaction and contributing to the development of tourism and the local economy [87].

3.5.4. Resolving Conflicts Between Private Property and the Public Interest Through Legal Easements

Resolving conflicts between private property and the public interest through legal easements is essential for sustainable urban development, especially for smart cities. This legal institute allows public benefit objectives to be achieved efficiently and provides mechanisms that protect the rights of landowners. Simultaneously, it allows projects to be carried out that benefit society as a whole. An example of such a project using the institution of easements to resolve conflicts could be the building of garages because urban car ownership is growing rapidly worldwide as urbanisation rates and the purchasing power of the population improve. Parking problems have become one of the key factors affecting and limiting the efficiency of urban economic and social operations [88]. When dealing with public benefit projects, it is very important to find a balance between private ownership and the public interest. For this reason, it is important, for example, to support infrastructure projects without land acquisition but with the use of a legal easement with which adequate compensation to the land owner will also be linked. In this way, a compromise could be found between the public interest and private ownership. When building new infrastructure such as roads, railways, cycle routes, power lines or water corridors, it is often necessary to encroach on private property rather than purchasing land, which would be time-consuming and expensive. Also, in this case easements allow access to that land and its use for a public purpose. This allows projects that contribute to the development of the city to be carried out efficiently, while minimising the costs to the public sector. Easements are important in providing access to land where public services such as health, education or emergency services are planned because in this way, it can be guaranteed that these services will be available to as many inhabitants as possible, thus improving the quality of life in the city. For example, according to Del Monico, if it is necessary to build an ambulance station or a health facility in a strategic location, legal easements allow public access without the need for a full transfer of ownership [89]. This also saves financial resources because the annual remuneration for the establishment of the easement is about 3% of the market price of the land [90].

Easements are also important for the protection of nature reserves, parks and green spaces, which contribute to the ecological stability of urban areas, because they allow the public sector to create access to these sites and ensure their protection, which is crucial in the context of sustainable development and the protection of natural heritage for future generations. As we have already mentioned, these encroachments on private property must always be accompanied by the provision of adequate compensation to the landowner. This is to ensure a balance between the public interest, represented by the public’s right of access to the land in question, and the private interest, represented by adequate compensation in money paid to the property owner. Legal easements are, among other things, enshrined in legislation and allow the precise conditions under which the public sector can use private land to be defined. This legal framework provides both parties—owners and public institutions—with a clear idea of their rights and obligations, thus avoiding misunderstandings. The landowner is assured that his rights are protected and that he will be adequately compensated. On the other hand, the public sector is guaranteed access to the necessary lands for the implementation of projects. Thanks to the regulation of easements, the conditions for their use are precisely defined, which significantly reduces the risk of conflicts and litigation. Landowners are aware that their land is being used for the benefit of public projects and that they are being adequately compensated or indemnified for this purpose. This contributes to faster implementation of public projects as it avoids long and costly disputes between the public sector and the owners. Easements allow the needs of the public to be balanced effectively with the rights of landowners. The public sector is able to implement important projects quickly and efficiently, while landowners are adequately compensated. This thereby creates the conditions for cooperation between private owners and public institutions, which is important for the smooth running of projects and the maintenance of good community relations [91].

In the context of building smart cities, where new challenges need to be met flexibly and quickly, easements provide a tool that allows the conflict between public interest and private property to be resolved transparently. Owners have clear rules and procedures that apply when their land is needed by the public sector for public purposes, and in this way, Smart Cities avoid complex litigation and raise funds to provide vital infrastructure. Solutions such as locating IoT sensors, charging stations for electric vehicles or energy storage often require access to land that is privately owned. Easements allow easier access to this land, accelerating the deployment of innovative solutions in smart cities. Public and private interests are thus aligned, contributing to the development of technological and environmental infrastructure and thanks to the existence of easements, the public sector has better predictability in planning and implementing long-term projects. Similarly, landowners can be assured that their rights are respected and that if their land is used for a public purpose, it is within clearly defined conditions and with adequate compensation; this predictability is crucial for both parties and allows sustainable development goals to be achieved more effectively. Finally, in the context of public projects, easements foster cooperation between the municipal government and residents. When residents see that their land is used transparently for public purposes and that their rights are respected, trust in local institutions increases and all in all this has a positive impact on the overall cooperation and acceptance of projects by residents, which is important for the success of smart cities [92].

The above is confirmed by data obtained by Jilian Juric in Montana and Idaho. According to his findings, over 450 unique tracts of public lands have been determined to have additional access points. This includes more than 29,600 acres of public land that we previously identified as landlocked, as they had no digitised public route for access available. These data just confirm that it is legal easements and their digitisation that can support the resolution of conflicts between private property and the public interest. It is precisely by disseminating data on easements that they are attracting more public attention, which ultimately means that the relevant authorities will also start to look into these matters and resolve the long-standing conflicts that have arisen between private property and the public interest. For example, in the USA in the state of Montana, there has been no compensation paid to the owners, and therefore the owners have not allowed hikers on these trails. After legal easements were publicised and digitised, local authorities agreed to a smaller fee for owners, and the owners released a huge number of trails to the public just through legal easements [93].

4. Discussion

Cities and regions around the world are currently facing similar challenges and problems. Rapid urbanisation, demographic changes and growing demands for infrastructure and affordable housing, rapidly changing technologies, rising energy prices and the need to mitigate the consequences of the health, climate, economic and security crises of the last decade are adding new responsibilities and tasks to cities, increasing demands on their budgets and, with it, the related demands on the personnel and professional capacities of public administration officials and employees. At the same time, world leaders are making increasingly ambitious commitments in an effort to slow down the negative impacts of human activities on the environment. They are trying to minimise inequalities and ensure a decent and sustainable standard of living for all residents, while the responsibility for fulfilling many of these commitments ultimately falls precisely on the cities and regions where most human activities take place.

In an effort to reduce pressure on available resources and effectively meet the current and future needs of their residents, cities, municipalities, and regions have begun to reassess the way they plan their development and set priorities. The collection and consistent analysis of data, knowledge of the interrelationships between individual components and the relationships between the territory and its inhabitants have created space for the emergence of appropriate local solutions that increase the quality of life and integrate various thematic domains, such as the development of electromobility [78,79]. These solutions also combine practical utility with higher principles of protecting nature, resources, people, and cultural and social values [73,87]. The introduction of modern technologies into the operation of cities and regions and an open approach to sharing information, data and knowledge about the territory and its challenges have enabled the broad participation of participants with diverse professional capacities and personal experiences in solving the current and future challenges that cities face [5,6,7]. Data generated by mobile and digital devices, in turn, reward cities with valuable information about the habits, behaviour, and needs of their residents that can be reused in further planning of development and public services [89].

In cities that we today consider pioneers in the field of smart cities and regions, these innovative approaches to management have emerged and are still emerging organically thanks to an appropriate combination of human, financial, material, civic, and institutional capital. However, where any of these elements is missing or insufficient, it is appropriate to consider central support mechanisms and, with support from the national level within the limits of relevant competencies, to seek optimal models of creating and providing public services and making local government management more efficient [90].

In the Slovak Republic, the topic of smart cities and regions has been gaining increasing attention in recent years, both from the cities themselves and higher territorial units, as well as from independent experts, entrepreneurs, and the state itself. Cities and regions are gradually experimenting with sharing open data, introducing modern technologies, building professional and analytical capacities directly in offices, and involving professionals and the general public in decision-making. At the same time, an important nucleus of independent experts, interest groups, and innovative startups focused on developing new and improving existing tools in public administration is emerging.

The findings of our scientific study also confirm that the use of legal easements enables the efficient use of land for public benefit projects, such as renewable energy and green mobility, which is also supported by the literature on legal frameworks for sustainable development. As can be seen from the literature reviewed, it is possible to believe that well-designed legislation on legal easements can alleviate the legal obstacles that often complicate the implementation of green initiatives such as cycle paths, charging stations for electric vehicles, green belts or urban greenery. Our findings suggest that the appropriate use of easements to the land will speed up the construction of the necessary facilities. This can reduce the emissions burden and support the development of environmental infrastructure, thereby making a significant contribution to improving the quality of life and the environment in cities. Such an approach will ultimately fulfil the conditions contained in several definitions of Smart cities [94,95,96]. However, in the Slovak Republic, statutory easements perform and probably will only perform the function of ensuring public needs in connection with the construction of infrastructure, as is the case, for example, in Poland [18]. In our opinion, it is unlikely that easements would be granted a protective function of land, as is the case, for example, in other countries or continents [11,12,13,14,15,16,17]. We base this opinion on the fact that the protection of nature and landscape is very strictly ensured by other environmental laws. This has the consequence that granting such a protective function to statutory easements in the conditions of the Slovak Republic would be duplicative and would cause chaos, especially during construction.

Based on our literature review, we believe that our results highlight the need for legislative clarification of the issue of legal easements as a possible legal institute applicable to the construction of smart cities. In contrast to existing research works [1,3,5,6], our scientific study has highlighted some specific approaches that can be used in the development of smart cities. These are, in particular, the integration of microgrids and green-blue infrastructure. The next part of the hypothesis that legal easements will enable the effective promotion of green and blue infrastructure projects, as well as the development of energy and telecommunication networks, has been confirmed. Our findings point to the importance of legal easements as a tool that simplifies and accelerates the implementation of smart solutions in the urban environment, thus contributing to the improvement of the quality of life of residents [95].

The main contribution of our scientific study is to prepare the ground for initiating legislative adjustments that can reflect the needs of smart cities in the context of sustainable development. The introduction of more transparent legislative guidelines for the application of easements could make it easier for cities to access the land and other real estate needed to build green and technologically advanced solutions. These findings support the idea that smart cities should seek to increase resilience by integrating green and energy infrastructure that reduces dependence on conventional energy grids while improving resilience to climate change. By a scientific study, we pointed out the challenges associated with establishing easements for public purposes, particularly with respect to property rights and possible compensation for owners [11,18,86]. These challenges require careful legal analysis in order to strike a balance between the public interest and private rights, which is key to the wider acceptance of these measures. The findings thus support the hypothesis that legal easements have significant potential for sustainable and innovative management of smart city infrastructure. It is confirmed that such legal instruments can positively influence the efficiency of public utility projects, including in the context of dynamic urban development, while providing tools to effectively balance public and private interests.

Based on our research, we confirm the hypothesis that legal easements can make a substantial contribution to sustainable development and efficient land use in smart cities. Research has demonstrated that these particular legal mechanisms are an effective tool for promoting environmental and technological infrastructure solutions, which is consistent with the assumptions of our hypothesis. Moreover, the results suggest that legal easements not only facilitate access to land for public utility projects but also help to balance public needs with the rights of private owners, thereby minimising potential legal conflicts.

5. Conclusions

The conclusions of this scientific study, however, need to be seen in the context of the limitations that may ultimately affect the practical application of the conclusions and recommendations for the application of legal easements in the context of building smart cities. The main limitations include geographical and legislative differences, the focus on the selected Energy Act, the lack or even the impossibility of obtaining empirical data concerning the use of legal easements, and the rapidly changing technological and legal environment.

Legal easements and their applications vary considerably from state to state, which greatly limits the generality of our conclusions. The main focus of the study was on the legal framework of the use of easements in the Slovak Republic, with a subtle overlap to their use in the Czech Republic, with which we formed a common state until 31 December 1992. Although it was assumed that the legislative development would be similar even after the establishment of two independent states, the opposite is true, especially with regard to the Civil Code. As one of the co-authors of the draft of the new Czech Civil Code states, their intention was to return as much as possible to the original General Civil Code of 1811. Further research in the field of legal easements could provide valuable insights into the comparative application of encumbrances in different states, ideally those with well-developed building smart cities policies. Although we conducted a broader comparative analysis of legislation, we focused mainly on the Slovak Energy Act for practical application reasons. This choice brings some limitations, as some aspects of sustainable infrastructure in smart cities, such as public transport or water management, have not been analysed in the same detail due to the scope of this scientific study. Future scientific studies could explore a wider range of legislation affecting the construction of smart city infrastructure.

As we have already mentioned, this scientific study relies primarily on the legal analysis of selected legislation and theoretical concepts of smart cities. The lack of empirical data on the application of legal easements in practice and their impact on smart city development objectively limits the ability to specifically quantify the benefits of these legal measures. This is mainly because these data are not measured by cities. For this reason, we have not been able to accurately quantify the benefits of legal easements. The possible results of our scientific study are also limited by the recent cyber-attack on the Office of Geodesy, Cartography, and Cadastre of the Slovak Republic, which is currently operating in emergency mode. This is an issue that is still developing and has not been discussed in detail in the field of smart cities and, therefore, often lacks supporting data and data. Smart cities and the technologies that make them work are evolving dynamically, as is the relevant legislation. Our conclusions may, therefore, be influenced over time by new regulatory changes or technological advances that could affect the form and application of legal easements [97].

These limitations suggest the need for further research aimed at empirically validating the findings, as well as tracking the development of legal frameworks and technological innovations relevant to smart cities. It would be equally interesting to make measurements in practice, where different metrics and information on legal easements could be used to obtain empirical data, and this empirical data could confirm the correctness of our conclusions presented in this scientific study. We believe that these data could just reaffirm our hypothesis that legal easements can directly influence the development of smart cities, and cities that use legal easements develop smart cities faster than those that do not.

Future research could also focus on a detailed examination of legislative processes and their implementation in the area of legal easements in several states, while it is important to analyse best practises and their applicability. In addition, it would be beneficial to explore how specific applications of easements contribute to the development of smart cities in different geographical and economic contexts. Further research could also focus on assessing the economic, environmental, and social impacts of these measures on the quality of life of smart city residents, while it would also be useful to analyse different forms of compensation for the restriction of property rights. Finally, with the development of technologies such as microgrids and renewable energy sources, the potential for new legal instruments to reflect the dynamics of technological and environmental progress in the field of smart cities should also be explored. Our future research in this area will be devoted specifically to empirically validating the above conclusions and, in particular, to highlighting the direct link between the development of smart cities and the use of legal easements.

The results of this scientific study confirm that legal easements are crucial for fostering sustainable development and enhancing land use in smart cities. These findings align with previous research examining legal frameworks that promote environmental and technological infrastructure solutions. The literature thoroughly examines the function of legal easements in harmonising public utility initiatives with private property rights, and our research corroborates these viewpoints by demonstrating their practical implementations in urban environments.

This scientific study suggests that legal easements may expedite the execution of green and blue infrastructure initiatives, including microgrids, renewable energy systems, green belts, and urban vegetation. Current literature has recognised legal barriers that obstruct such initiatives, highlighting the need for regulatory frameworks that facilitate rather than obstruct sustainable development. Our research demonstrates that properly designed legal easements can effectively address these obstacles, therefore enabling the development of critical infrastructure for smart cities.

Moreover, our research emphasises the significance of legal easements in alleviating environmental impacts via improved infrastructure planning. The advancement of bike routes, electric vehicle charging stations, and other sustainable mobility initiatives corresponds with the primary goals of smart cities, which emphasise environmental efficiency and urban quality of life. Easements can enhance urban planning by minimising bureaucratic impediments and legal conflicts.

Notwithstanding these encouraging findings, numerous limitations must be recognised. The principal constraint of our analysis is its geographical scope, predominantly analysing legal frameworks inside the Slovak Republic, with occasional allusions to the Czech Republic. Legal easements differ markedly among jurisdictions, hence constraining the generalizability of our conclusions. Subsequent research ought to broaden this analysis by comparing studies across many nations to evaluate the wider relevance of our findings.

A further problem is the lack of actual data on the influence of legal easements on smart city development. Theoretical and legislative analyses provide significant ideas, but empirical confirmation through case studies and real-world implementations is crucial. This is especially relevant due to the swift technological improvements affecting smart city policy and infrastructure. Furthermore, unexpected occurrences, such as cyberattacks on essential cadastral data sources, highlight the necessity for robust and flexible regulatory frameworks.

Subsequent studies ought to focus on numerous critical domains. Initially, empirical research must be undertaken to measure the concrete advantages of legal easements in advancing smart city initiatives, encompassing the assessment of project deadlines, cost savings, and environmental benefits linked to easement-facilitated infrastructure. Secondly, additional legal study is necessary to examine best practises across different jurisdictions and their applicability to diverse urban situations. Finally, considering the ongoing advancement of smart city technologies, research must explore how legal frameworks might be revised to incorporate upcoming innovations such as decentralised energy systems, sophisticated telecommunications, and cohesive digital infrastructure.

In conclusion, our analysis substantiates the assertion that legal easements constitute a beneficial legal instrument for sustainable and efficient urban development. Their effectiveness relies on well-defined legislative frameworks, empirical validation, and the ability to adapt to changing technology and regulatory environments. Investigating these aspects through additional study and legislative progress will guarantee that legal easements persist in fostering the development of smart cities sustainably and equitably.