Meaning & use
usufruct
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Meanings
noununcountablelegal
The legal right to use something that belongs to another person and to keep any income or fruit it produces, as long as the thing itself is not damaged or sold.
Grammar: Usually uncountable, but it can be countable when comparing separate arrangements: two usufructs over the land.
Patterns
- usufruct of something
- usufruct over something
The widow received a usufruct of the house, so she could live there for the rest of her life.
Under the will, the son owned the vineyard while his aunt held the usufruct and kept the harvest income.
A usufruct does not let the holder sell the land or cut down its orchards.
noununcountablespecialist
In some traditional and international law contexts, the right of communities to use shared resources such as water or forests without owning them.
Grammar: Often appears in discussions of natural resources and land rights.
Patterns
- usufruct rights
The villagers hold usufruct rights to the forest, allowing them to gather firewood.
Nomadic families have a customary usufruct of the grazing land.
The treaty gave both countries usufruct of the river water.
Word forms
| plural | usufructs |
|---|
Common combinations
- hold a usufruct
- She holds a usufruct over the cottage until she dies.
- grant a usufruct
- The owner granted a usufruct of the field to his neighbor.
- lifetime usufruct
- The will gave her a lifetime usufruct of the apartment.
- usufruct rights
- Usufruct rights allow farmers to use the land without owning it.
- usufruct of property
- The usufruct of property can be passed on only under certain conditions.
Synonyms and how they differ
- use-right
- Use-right is a plainer, less formal phrase, but it lacks the exact legal meaning that includes the fruits or profits of the property.
- tenancy
- Tenancy usually involves paying rent for the right to occupy property, while usufruct focuses on the right to enjoy and benefit from it.
- life interest
- Life interest is a common term in some legal systems for a similar right lasting the holder's lifetime, whereas usufruct is the more traditional civil-law term.
Opposites
Word family
- usufructuary noun
- a person who holds a usufruct
- fruit noun
- the produce or profit a thing yields
Commonly confused: usufruct or easement?
usufruct vs easement
An easement is a limited right to cross or use part of someone's land for one purpose, while a usufruct gives broad rights to enjoy the property and its income.
Practice
The owner kept the title to the farm, but his sister received a ___ allowing her to live there and keep the income from the crops.
Choose one answer.
A usufruct is the right to use property and enjoy its profits without owning it. A mortgage is a loan secured on property, which gives no such right to live there.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “usufruct”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.