Does a party have a right to an easement that encroachments upon the property of a property owned by the same party?

Adams v. Estate of Smith, supra, 88 Cal.App.2d 910, 199 P.2d 730, deals with a factual situation in some respects quite similar to that of the case at bar. There the pipeline in question was underground with standpipes coming to the surface. It had been installed sometime prior to 1900 by defendants' predecessors in ownership. Admittedly, the pipeline encroached upon plaintiffs' property for as much as two feet in some places and five feet in others. The litigation arose when it was discovered by plaintiffs that the pipeline was located upon their property. They sued to quiet title. By answer and cross-complaint, defendants set up their right to an easement over and across plaintiffs' property for the pipeline asserting that they and their predecessors-in-interest for more than forty years past had used the premises for said purpose openly and uninterruptedly and with the knowledge of the plaintiffs. Answering the cross-complaint, plaintiffs denied that the land had been so used under a claim of right and alleged that the use was permissive only.