Supreme Court resolution on transmission easements (III CZP 9/14)
III CZP 9/14
Bench of 3 judges. Date of decision: 6 June 2014
In a case for the establishment, for remuneration, of a land easement corresponding in content to a transmission easement, brought under Article 305[2] § 2 of the Civil Code on the application of the property owners — does the participant acquire by prescription a land easement corresponding in content to a transmission easement, given that the participant (or its legal predecessors) exercised rights arising from a decision issued under Article 35(1) and (2) of the Act of 12 March 1958 on the principles and procedure for the expropriation of real property (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 1974, No. 10, item 64, as amended), which constitutes the legal title to exercise them?
Resolution of the Supreme Court of 6 June 2014
The exercise of rights within the scope arising from a decision issued under Article 35(1) and (2) of the Act of 12 March 1958 on the principles and procedure for the expropriation of real property (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 1974, No. 10, item 64, as amended), which constitutes the legal title to exercise them, does not lead to the acquisition by prescription of a land easement corresponding in content to a transmission easement.
Owners of land crossed by power lines, gas pipelines or other transmission equipment may gain new ways of asserting their rights. The Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment of 2 December 2025 has called into question the existing practice of acquiring transmission easements by prescription. The expected resolution of the Supreme Court may now be of key importance.
A new article has been published on the firm’s blog — on the resolution of a bench of seven judges of the Supreme Court of 20 June 2018 (case no. III CZP 29/17).
