When does an easement terminate by merger?

An easement terminates by merger when the easement holder acquires the servient land. This occurs because the easement is essentially a right to use someone else's land for a specific purpose. Therefore, if the holder of the easement purchases or otherwise takes ownership of the property that the easement allows them to use, the necessity for the easement is eliminated. Once the two properties (the dominant tenement, which benefits from the easement, and the servient tenement, which is burdened by that easement) come under the same ownership, the easement merges into the property ownership and is no longer needed. This principle reflects the idea that one cannot have a right (the easement) over their own land since they have exclusive control and ownership of it.

The other options do not directly address the legal principles surrounding easements and their termination by merger. For instance, mutual agreement or the destruction of the dominant tenement pertains to different aspects of easement termination, and the lack of necessity does not inherently lead to termination by merger. Thus, the correct understanding is that ownership of both the easement and the servient land by the same party leads to the merging of the easement and its termination.