S: Field Law (last access: 5 January 2026); LII (last access: 5 January 2026).
N: 1. In law, “right to the use and profits of the property of another without damaging it,” 1610s (implied in usufructuary), from Late Latin usufructus, in full usus et fructus “use and enjoyment,” from Latin usus “a use” + fructus “enjoyment,” also “fruit” Attested earlier as half-delatinized usufruit (late 15c.).
2. Usufruct is a civil law term referring to right of one individual to use and enjoy the property that is vested in another, provided the property concerned is neither impaired nor altered. The right of ownership gives the owner the ability to use the property, or live in it, receive the income from it, for example in the form of rent, and sell or otherwise dispose of the property.
The owner can split his ownership in two so that there is the usufruct; which is right to use the property and receive the income from it, and the bare ownership of the property, which includes the right to dispose of it.
The person who holds the right to use and enjoy the property is known as the usufructuary and the person who holds the right to dispose of the property is known as the bare owner.
3. Modern civil-law systems recognize two types of usufructs. The perfect usufruct includes only those things that a usufructuary (one who holds property under right of usufruct) can use without changing their substance, such as land, buildings, or movable objects; the substance of the property, however, may be altered naturally over time and by the elements. The quasi-, or imperfect, usufruct includes property that is consumable or expendable, such as money, agricultural products, and the like, which would be of no advantage to the usufructuary if he could not consume them, expend them, or change their substance.
4. Property Law (civil law): usufruct, right of usufruct.
- Right to use and enjoy produce, benefit, or profit of another’s property provided that the property remains undamaged.
5. Collocations: noun + noun, adjective + noun, and verb + noun, among many others.
- (usufruct) rights, right(s) of (usufruct).
- perpetual (usufruct), lifetime (usufruct).
- to convert, do, enjoy, exercice, give, grant, have, hold.
6. Cultural Interrelation: We can mention the film The Father (2020), directed by Florian Zeller, in which the dynamics of usufruct are explicitly reflected through the character of Anthony Hopkins. In the plot, the protagonist lives in and enjoys the family home while legally the property belongs—or will belong—to his children, highlighting a conflict between the right of lifetime use (usufruct) and the legal ownership of the heirs.
S: 1. Etymonline (last access: 8 January 2026). 2. GOV.UK (last access: 5 January 2026). 3. EncBrit (last access: 8 January 2026). 4. TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 8 January 2026). 5. CED (last access: 8 January 2026). 6. IMDb (last access: 5 January 2026).
SYN: right of usufruct
S: TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 8 January 2026)
CR: bare ownership, fideicommissum, landlord, lease, lessor.
