[a. late L. ūsūfruct-us (whence Sp. and Pg. usufructo, It. usu-, usofrutto, Pr. usufrug), ad. L. ūsus-fructus (abl. ūsū-fructū). Cf. USUFRUIT.]
1. Law. The right of temporary possession, use, or enjoyment of the advantages of property belonging to another, so far as may be had without causing damage or prejudice to this. Also transf.
c. 1630. Sir T. Hope, Minor Practicks (1734), 252. After the Usu-fruct is once lawfully constitute by a Seasin.
1681. Stair, Instit., xvi. 327. Usufruct is the power of disposal of the use and fruits, saving the Substance of the thing.
1710. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., II. s.v. Services, Services Personal, are those due from a Thing to a Person, and of these they account … Usufruct, Use and Habitation.
1766. Blackstone, Comm., II. 105. A subject therefore hath only the usufruct, and not the absolute property of the soil.
1839. Carlyle, Chartism, x. 176. Lawsuits in chancery for some short usufruct of a bit of land.
1853. J. H. Newman, Hist. Sk. (1873), I. I. ii. 74. They held it [sc. Sogdiana] in possession … for 90 or 100 years; they came into the usufruct and enjoyment of it.
1868. Browning, Ring & Bk., II. 211. He owned some usufruct, had moneys’ use Lifelong.
fig. 1863. Patmore, Angel in Ho., I. II. ii. Could eternal life afford That tyranny should thus deduct From this fair land … A year of the sweet usufruct.
b. An office of which one is usufructuary. rare.
1848. Hallam, Suppl. Notes Hist. Mid. Ages, 116. M. Guérard … is of opinion that, though benefices were ultimately fiefs, in the first stage of the monarchy they were only usufructs.
2. gen. Use, enjoyment, or profitable possession (of something).
1811. Lamb, Elia, I. Bachelor’s Compl. In the rich man’s houses and pictures … I have a temporary usufruct at least.
1835. Greswell, Parables, IV. 490. No more than preliminary to the usufruct of the Kingdom itself.
1863. Kinglake, Crimea, I. 41. Which of the rival Churches should have the control and usufruct of every holy shrine.
b. esp. Beneficial use or enjoyment of land. Also fig. and transf.
1864. Marsh, Man & Nat., 35. Man has too long forgotten that the earth was given to him for usufruct alone, not for consumption.
1870. Huxley, Lay Serm., xii. 313. Depriving man of the usufruct of one of the most fertile fields of his great patrimony, Nature.
1898. Harcourt, in Times, 30 March, 8/2. The ‘usufruct’ of Port Arthur and Ta-lien-wan had been granted to Russia. ‘Usufruct’ appears to be a new word [in this connection].
3. attrib., as usufruct discipline, right.
1845. R. W. Hamilton, Pop. Educ., iv. 69. A sordid, utilitarian, usufruct, discipline of the youthful mind.
1881. ‘H. H.,’ Century of Dishonor, 115. The usufruct right of the Indians to the lands occupied by them.
Hence Usufruction, = sense 2 b.
1846. Congressional Globe, 27 May, 862/3. They saw … that they could … get the whole [boundary-line], at least for a long time, under our own delusive project of joint usufruction.
