usufruct

American  

[yoo-zoo-fruhkt, -soo-, yooz-yoo-, yoos-] / ˈyu zʊˌfrʌkt, -sʊ-, ˈyuz yʊ-, ˈyus- /

noun

Roman and Civil Law.

1. the right of enjoying all the advantages derivable from the use of something that belongs to another, as far as is compatible with the substance of the thing not being destroyed or injured.

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usufruct British  

/ ˈjuːsjʊˌfrʌkt /

noun

1. the right to use and derive profit from a piece of property belonging to another, provided the property itself remains undiminished and uninjured in any way

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Other Word Forms

• usufructuary noun

Etymology

Origin of usufruct

1620–30; < Late Latin ūsūfrūctus, equivalent to Latin ūsū, ablative of ūsus ( use (noun)) + frūctus ( fruit )

Explanation

Usufruct describes using someone else's property as long as you don't harm it. City gardeners, who are known for planting vegetable patches in empty lots, assume the right of usufruct. Usufruct, pronounced "YOO-zuh-fruct," was an aspect of ancient Roman law which stated that citizens could use and even profit from another person's land or property as long as it wasn't wasted or destroyed. Various countries still use usufruct as a way to allow people to use land they don't own or as part of inheritance law. The word usufruct comes from the Latin phrase usus et fructus: "use and enjoyment."

Example Sentences

“Some founders wanted to eliminate inheritance entirely. In a letter to James Madison, Thomas Jefferson suggested that all property be redistributed every fifty years, because "the earth belongs in usufruct to the living."

From Salon • Oct. 7, 2018

The European idea of usufruct—the right to common land use and enjoyment—comes close to the native understanding, but colonists did not practice usufruct widely in America.

From Textbooks • Dec. 30, 2014

Their rights of usufruct, grazing, pannage, estovers, turbary and piscary survived for many centuries before being terminated: first informally, later in wholesale acts of enclosure.

From The Guardian • Jan. 31, 2011

Many common stockholders yearn for this usufruct of 25 years' waiting which Judge Elbert Henry Gary, chairman of the Board, has placidly withheld.

From Time Magazine Archive

The payment affects the proprietary title, but not the usufruct.

From To Cuba and Back by Dana, Richard Henry