Missouri Laws 442.014 – Private landowner protection act — definitions — conservation easement ..
1. This act* shall be known and may be cited as the “Private Landowner Protection Act”.
2. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms mean:
Terms Used In Missouri Laws 442.014
- Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of the statutes, mean the section next preceding or next following that in which the reference is made, unless some other section is expressly designated in the reference. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Property: includes real and personal property. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- State: when applied to any of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" includes such district and territories. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- United States: includes such district and territories. See Missouri Laws 1.020
(1) “Conservation easement”, a nonpossessory interest of a holder in real property imposing limitations or affirmative obligations the purposes of which include retaining or protecting natural, scenic, or open-space values of real property, assuring its availability for agricultural, forest, recreational, or open-space use, protecting natural resources, maintaining or enhancing air or water quality, or preserving the historical, architectural, archaeological, or cultural aspects of real property;
(2) “Holder”, any of the following:
(a) A governmental body empowered to hold an interest in real property under the laws of this state or the United States;
(b) A charitable corporation, charitable association, or charitable trust, the purposes, powers, or intent of which include retaining or protecting the natural, scenic, or open-space values of real property, assuring the availability of real property for agricultural, forest, recreational, or open-space use, protecting natural resources, maintaining or enhancing air or water quality, or preserving the historical, architectural, archaeological, or cultural aspects of real property; or
(c) An individual or other private entity;
(3) “Third-party right of enforcement”, a right expressly provided in a conservation easement to enforce any of its items granted to a designated governmental body, charitable corporation, charitable association, charitable trust, individual, or any other private entity which, although eligible to be a holder, is not a holder.
3. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a conservation easement may be created, conveyed, recorded, assigned, released, modified, terminated, or otherwise altered or affected in the same manner as other easements. No right or duty in favor of or against a holder and no right in favor of a person having a third-party right of enforcement arises under a conservation easement before its acceptance by the holder and a recordation of the acceptance. Except as provided in subdivision (2) of this subsection, a conservation easement is unlimited in duration unless the instrument creating it provides otherwise.
(2) An interest in real property in existence at the time a conservation easement is created is not impaired by it unless the owner of the interest is a party to the conservation easement or consents to it.
4. (1) An action affecting a conservation easement may be brought by an owner of an interest in real property burdened by the easement; a holder of the easement, a person having a third-party right of enforcement; or a person authorized by other law.
(2) This section does not affect the power of a court to modify or terminate a conservation easement in accordance with the principles of law and equity.
5. A conservation easement is valid even though:
(1) It is not appurtenant to an interest in real property;
(2) It can be or has been assigned to another holder;
(3) It is not of a character that has been recognized traditionally at common law;
(4) It imposes a negative burden that would prevent a landowner from performing acts on the land he or she would otherwise be privileged to perform absent the agreed-upon easement;
(5) It imposes affirmative obligations upon the owner of an interest in the burdened property or upon the holder;
(6) The benefit does not touch or concern real property; or
(7) There is no privity of estate or of contract.
6. Nothing in this section shall affect the ability of any public utility, municipal utility, joint municipal utility commission, rural electric cooperative, telephone cooperative, or public water supply district to acquire an easement, either through negotiation with an owner of an interest in real property or by condemnation, to lay or construct plants or facilities for the transmission or distribution of electricity, natural gas, telecommunications service, water, or the carriage of sewage along or across a conservation easement.
7. This section applies to any interest created after its effective date which complies with this section, whether designated as a conservation easement or as a covenant, equitable servitude, restriction, easement, or otherwise. This section applies to any interest created before its effective date if it would have been enforceable had it been created after its effective date unless retroactive application contravenes the constitution or laws of this state or the United States. This section does not alter the terms of any interest created before its effective date, or impose any additional burden or obligation on any grantor or grantee of such interest, or on their successors or assigns. This section does not invalidate any interest, whether designated as a conservation or preservation easement or as a covenant, equitable servitude, restriction, easement, or otherwise, that is enforceable under other laws of this state.