usufruct, in Roman-based legal systems, the temporary right to the use and enjoyment of the property of another, without changing the character of the property. This legal concept developed in Roman law and found significant application in the determination of the property interests between a slave held under a usus fructus (Latin: “use and enjoyment”) bond and a temporary master. Any property acquired by a slave as a result of his labour legally belonged to that master.
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.
The term usufruct never found its way into the English common law, although certain general similarities can be found in the common-law concept of estate.