[ad. late L. ūsūfructuāri-us, f. ūsūfructu-s USUFRUCT sb. Cf. Pg. usufructuario, It. usufruttuario.]
1. Law. One who has the temporary use and reaps the fruits or profits of an estate, benefice, office, etc., legally belonging to another or others; one who enjoys the usufruct of a property, etc.
a. 1618. Raleigh, in Gutch, Coll. Cur., I. 72. The ordinary ususfructus is determined by the death of the usufructuary.
1658. Bramhall, Consecr. Bps., viii. 186. He held all these Bishopricks … as an Vsufructuary not as a true owner.
1692. Washington, trans. Milton’s Def. Pop., vi. 158. He, that has but the Crown, and the Revenues that belong to it, as an Usufructuary.
1710. Prideaux, Draught of a Bill, Reasons, 2. The Ministers are only the usufructuaries to receive the annual income.
1726. Ayliffe, Parergon, 86. The Parsons of Parishes are not in Law accounted Proprietors, but only Usufructuaries.
1790. Francis, in Burke, Corr. (1844), IIl. 166. The Church … whose property its usufructuaries very wisely said it would be sacrilege to invade.
1820. Ann. Reg., II. 718. The land-tax is not taken into account except for the proprietor or usufructary [sic].
1868. Browning, Ring & Bk., III. 159. A certain yearly sum,—our Pietro being … an usufructuary,—Dropped in the common bag as interest Of money, his till death.
1881. Disraeli, in Daily Tel., 27 April. That all books … [be] properly preserved by … the usufructuary thereof for the time being.
b. transf. and fig.
a. 1638. Mede, Wks. (1672), 121. Because the whole land was holy, and God’s land, and they but Usufructuaries.
1648. Sanderson, Serm., II. 24. God hath entrusted us with the … culture of our own hearts…: the fruits wholly accrue to us, as usufructuaries.
1652. Needham, Selden’s Mare Cl., 483. What advantages … are made by others, who of Usufructuaries [of the sea] by permission, have in design now to make themselvs absolute Lords of the Fee.
1702. J. Howe, Self Ded., 27. God indeed is the only Proprietor, Men are but usufructuaries.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 150. We do not possess in property but only as usufructuaries, and we know the lading will be taken off our backs … at the end of our journey through life.
1866. Alger, Solit. Nat. & Man, IV. 370. [To conform] to the will of God … as its grateful executives and usufructuaries.
2. In general use: One who has the use or enjoyment of something.
1621. Bacon, in Spedding, Lett., etc. (1874), VII. 226. I have … ever … counted myself but an usufructuary of myself, the property being yours.
1622. Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., I. 125. The Vsufructuarie, and free inioyer of thy life.
1652–3. Leicester, in Collins, Lett. & Mem. State (1746), II. 680. If the Gift be of your self … you shall be but an Usufructuary of yourself.
1794. J. Gifford, Reign Louis XVI., 425. We are but usufructuaries of life.
1839. Hallam, Hist. Lit., III. iv. 359. That the supreme power or sovereignty … does not reside in the chief magistrate, but in the people themselves, and that no other is proprietor or usufructuary of it.
1886. W. Graham, Soc. Problem, 458. The present usufructuaries of the blessings of civilisation.
