Maybe. It depends on deeds going back more than a century. In this case the Appeals Court held that some neighbors keep full beach rights over an oceanfront owner’s beach, while others may only walk across it, because their old rights ended when the land came under one owner or their lots combine land with and without full rights. This is an unpublished Appeals Court decision under Rule 23.0, which courts may cite as persuasive but not as binding precedent.
Update (October 2026): On July 31, 2026, one of the neighbors asked the Supreme Judicial Court for further appellate review of this decision (FAR-30985). As of October 2026, the SJC had not ruled on that request.
What happened
The beach owner holds oceanfront land in Dartmouth on Buzzards Bay. Several neighbors, some on the water and some inland, claimed the right to use her beach for general beach purposes. Their rights traced to an 1889 division of a large parcel, when the original owner gave certain lots the right to use the shore for boating, bathing and fishing. Later, in 1909, one man owned both the shore and much of one of those lots at the same time. The beach owner argued this common ownership ended the old easement for his lots. The Land Court ruled largely for the neighbors, and the beach owner appealed.
What the court decided
In Gladstone v. Denizard, No. 25-P-480 (Mass. App. Ct. June 15, 2026) (Rule 23.0 decision), the court affirmed in part, vacated in part and sent the case back.
Lots deeded before the merger kept full rights. Two waterfront properties got their rights before the shore and the lots came under one owner. Easements pass with the land even if a later deed does not mention them. G.L. c. 183, § 15; Perry v. Nemira, 91 Mass. App. Ct. 12 (2017). Those owners may use the beach for boating, bathing, fishing, and customary uses like sunbathing, sitting on chairs, picnicking and beach games. The beach owner offered no specific facts showing that use went too far.
Merger wiped out the old easement for other lots. When one person fully owns both the land that benefits from an easement and the land it burdens, the easement ends. Selling one piece later does not bring it back, though the owner can create it again in the deed. Busalacchi v. McCabe, 71 Mass. App. Ct. 493 (2008). That happened here, and no later deed recreated it in writing.
But an implied easement to pass and repass survived. An easement can be implied when land is divided, based on what the parties presumably intended and what was reasonably necessary, not on necessity alone. Dale v. Bedal, 305 Mass. 102 (1940); Lavoie v. McRae, 102 Mass. App. Ct. 14 (2022). When the beach owner’s lot, including the beach, was sold in 1914, the seller kept title to or rights over the rest of the shore on both sides. The court found it made no sense that she meant to cut herself off from walking the whole beach. A deed saying the land was free of encumbrances did not change that, because other owners’ recorded beach rights already existed. So the court found an implied right to cross the beach, but not to use it for all beach purposes, since the seller had other beach to enjoy.
Combining lots cannot expand an easement. Some inland lots combine land with full rights and land that lost them. An easement cannot be used to serve other land beyond what it was meant to serve. Taylor v. Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank Comm’n, 475 Mass. 682 (2016). Those inland owners, and one other waterfront lot, may only pass and repass over this beach to reach other sections where they have rights. The court sent the case back to the Land Court to narrow the inland owners’ easements and to decide any claims of rights by long use that were not waived. The public also keeps its limited rights, such as fishing, fowling and navigation, between high and low water. Butler v. Attorney General, 195 Mass. 79 (1907).
What this means for you
Beach rights are often created in deeds from the 1800s. Whether you have them today can turn on who owned what, and when. A right that looks clear in an old deed can be lost if the shore and your lot were ever owned by the same person.
The scope matters as much as the right itself. Some owners may sit, picnic and swim. Others may only walk across to reach another part of the beach. If you combine lots, you may not carry full rights over to the new land.
If you own the beach, vague claims of overuse will not win. You need specific facts.
What to do now
- Pull your deed and every earlier deed in your chain of title from the registry of deeds.
- Look for any time your lot and the beach were owned by the same person.
- Note exactly what each deed allows, such as boating, bathing and fishing, or only passage.
- Keep records of how long and how openly you have used the beach, in case a claim based on long use applies.
- Talk to a lawyer before you fence, post signs or confront a neighbor.
If this is your situation, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or tell us what happened. These cases move on short deadlines.
