Abut means to directly border. Property law frequently concerns the rights of abutting landowners.
For example, under the common law, owners of property abutting public roads or sidewalks in Connecticut have no duty to keep those premises in safe conditions. That said, those same owners of property abutting public roads can be required to pay increased taxes due to the perceived increased value of their land if local statute dictates.
In certain scenarios, a party may owe an implied easement by necessity to an abutting landowner to allow that landowner to cross the party’s property, regardless of whether the party wants that easement to exist.
[Last updated in June of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]