Short answer. When an easement is acquired by prescription, its rights and duties are fixed first by the title, and where appropriate by how the easement was actually possessed — not by a separate, generic rulebook. Only if neither settles the point does the general law on easements in this Title step in to fill the gap.
What the law says
The title and, in a proper case, the possession of an easement acquired by prescription shall determine the rights of the dominant estate and the obligations of the servient estate.
Civil Code, Article 692 — Title Governs Voluntary Easements. Read the full provision →
What the law says
In default thereof, the easement shall be governed by such provisions of this Title as are applicable thereto.
Civil Code, Article 692 — Title Governs Voluntary Easements. Read the full provision →
Title comes first, even for a prescriptive easement
It might seem odd that a rule for easements acquired by prescription starts with title, since prescription is usually thought of as an alternative to having a title. But Article 692 says the title and, in a proper case, the possession of an easement acquired by prescription shall determine the rights of the dominant estate and the obligations of the servient estate. So if there is a title — whatever instrument or agreement documents the easement's terms — that title still controls the specifics, even though prescription is what actually created the right.
Where there is no title, possession fills in the terms
The phrase "in a proper case" signals that possession does the work title would otherwise do, but only where it is actually capable of showing what was intended. The manner in which the easement was exercised — how it was used, over what portion of the servient estate, and to what extent — becomes the evidence of what rights the dominant estate holds and what obligations bind the servient estate, standing in for a written document that was never made.
The general provisions on easements as the final fallback
Only when neither a title nor the possession settles the specifics does Article 692's second sentence take over: in default thereof, the easement shall be governed by such provisions of this Title as are applicable thereto. This makes the general rules on easements found throughout the same Title of the Code a true fallback, used only once the more specific sources — title and possession — have been checked and found wanting.
Why the order of these sources matters in a dispute
If you are trying to work out exactly what a prescriptive easement lets you do, or what it requires the servient estate's owner to tolerate, Article 692 tells you where to look and in what order: first at any title or document that fixes the terms, then at how the easement was actually possessed and exercised over time, and only after that at the Code's general easement provisions. Skipping straight to the general rules while ignoring a title or a clear pattern of possession gets the analysis backward.