united-states real-property easement oklahoma
What is a &quot;Right of a seat in church&quot; Easement attached to land
<p>I was casually reviewing property statutes for Oklahoma, as one is wont to do, when I came upon:</p>
<p><a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/oklahoma/2019/title-60/section-60-49/" rel="noreferrer">60 OK Stat s60-49</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The following land burdens or servitudes upon land, may be attached to other land as incidents or appurtenances, and are then called easements:</p>
<p>...</p>
<ol start="16">
<li>The right of a seat in church</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>How can &quot;The right of a seat in church&quot; burden a land as an easement?</p>
<p>What does a &quot;right of a seat in church&quot; easement even mean?</p>

<h2>It means what it says</h2>
<p>The person who owns the land has a right to a seat in the parish church and, if there are not enough seats then they get one and other people have to stand.</p>
<p>This is all pretty <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=6c9PAAAAMAAJ&amp;pg=RA2-PA52&amp;lpg=RA2-PA52&amp;dq=right%20of%20a%20seat%20in%20church&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=S9uliXx2np&amp;sig=ACfU3U37qT7sQ4MIGtcNOOWLaGaGcxIvPA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwigjdiZy5vqAhUjH7cAHaPmAFcQ6AEwEnoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&amp;q=right%20of%20a%20seat%20in%20church&amp;f=false" rel="noreferrer">archaic</a> but it stems from English law where parishes were geo-political and not just religious. Who got to sit was decided by the church-wardens and parishioners had a right to a seat <em>without payment</em> - visitors could be charged. However, some parishioners had an additional right by virtue of their office or landholding  to a seat before other parishioners.</p>
<p>The United States is in some ways a legal “time capsule”. Many common law countries have progressively codified the common law which tends to “fossilise” the law since judges are no longer able to say “well, that was a sensible law then but it’s clearly outdated so I’m changing it”. Since the United States did this earlier and harder than most other jurisdictions and has a natural progression back in time from the west to the east you get these lovely little anachronisms.</p>
