In, Durante v. Alba[i]  the /court held that if an owner of land divides the property and conveys a portion of it with a building on it, retaining ownership of the rest, an implied duty of lateral support of the building, as well as of the soil, arises.  In Durante, the owner of a tract of land sold to plaintiffs a part of the land with a building thereon, retaining the balance of the property.  Later, the balance became vested in defendant by various mesne conveyances.  Defendant erected a store on his land and the cellar of it extended below the bottom of the foundation wall of plaintiffs’ building.  Subsequently the wall fell dragging down plaintiffs’ building, damaging the building.  The Court held that the original owner’s duty of lateral support of the building ran with the land in the hands of subsequent owners.  The subsequent owners are liable because of the implied grant or reservation of lateral support.  However, in Christensen v. Mann[ii] the Court held that the right of lateral support of a building is limited solely to the building as it existed when the conveyance was made.

[i] 266 Pa. 444 (Pa. 1920)

[ii] 187 Wis. 567 (Wis. 1925)