Not always. If the road crosses registered land, an easement generally has to appear on that land’s certificate of title, and years of use or a vague reference to “the rights of all persons” will not create one. The Appeals Court upheld a ruling that a landlocked cranberry bog had no easement over a neighbor’s road. This is an unpublished Appeals Court decision under Rule 23.0, which courts may cite as persuasive but not as binding precedent.
What happened
A company owns a cranberry bog on three landlocked parcels in Sandwich. For years the former owners reached the bog by a road through two parcels owned by a neighboring company. The first parcel is registered land. The second is not. In 2018 the neighbor blocked the road, and the bog owners sued, asking the court to declare they had an easement over both parcels. The case moved to the Land Court, the new bog owner took over the case, and the judge granted summary judgment for the neighbor.
What the court decided
The Appeals Court affirmed in Maureen’s Mirtilli, LLC v. Idlewild Acres LLC, No. 24-P-321 (Mass. App. Ct. July 23, 2025) (Rule 23.0 decision).
Registered land: the certificate controls. A buyer of registered land who takes for value and in good faith holds it free of encumbrances not noted on the certificate, with limited exceptions. G.L. c. 185, § 46. To burden registered land, an easement generally must appear on the certificate of title. Tetrault v. Bruscoe, 398 Mass. 454 (1986). The neighbor’s certificate did not describe any easement for the bog.
General language is not enough. The bog owner pointed to a 1930 plan referenced in the certificate and a line saying the land within the ways was subject to the rights of all persons lawfully entitled to them. The court said that kind of vague wording does not identify an easement for any particular property. Calci v. Reitano, 66 Mass. App. Ct. 245 (2006). The original 1930 petition to register the land, which mentioned a prior bog owner, did not count either, because a petition is not part of the registered chain of title.
The two exceptions did not apply. A buyer of registered land may still be bound by an unlisted easement if the certificate contains facts that would prompt a reasonable buyer to look further in the registration records, or if the buyer actually knew of a prior unregistered interest. Jackson v. Knott, 418 Mass. 704 (1994). Here, the referenced plan did not even include the bog lots, so a search would have hit a dead end. And knowing that the bog owners used the road was not the same as knowing they had an easement, since use can be permissive.
A road to nowhere is extinguished. The bog owner also claimed a prescriptive easement over the unregistered second parcel. The court did not need to decide it. An easement that cannot serve its purpose is treated as extinguished. Comeau v. Manzelli, 344 Mass. 375 (1962). Without a right over the first parcel, a path across the second would dead end.
New theories must be pleaded. On appeal the bog owner pointed to a different unpaved road to another street. That claim was not in the complaint, which described a single easement over one road. A complaint must give the other side fair notice of the claim. Berish v. Bornstein, 437 Mass. 252 (2002). The court would not consider it.
What this means for you
If you own land with no frontage, do not assume decades of use give you a legal right of access. Start by finding out whether the land you cross is registered. If it is, the certificate of title, and the documents it points to, will usually decide the question. Broad phrases about “rights of all persons” rarely help.
If you own registered land that others cross, this case shows the strength of your certificate. A neighbor’s long use alone usually will not burden registered land.
Finally, the way you write your complaint matters. If there is more than one possible route or theory, plead each one at the start. Courts will not let you switch roads on appeal.
What to do now
- Check with the Registry District of the Land Court whether the land you cross is registered, and get a copy of its current certificate of title.
- Read every plan and document the certificate references, and confirm your lot actually appears on the plan.
- Gather your own deeds and any recorded grants of a right of way.
- If access is blocked, list every route and legal theory you may have before filing suit.
If this is your situation, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or tell us what happened. These cases move on short deadlines.
