In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

BOOK SEVEN USUFRUCT AND THE WAY IN WHICH A MAN MAY EXERCISE IT 1 PAUL,Vitellius, book 3: Usufruct is the right to use and enjoy the things of another without impairing their substance. 2 CELSUS,Digest, book 18: In fact, usufruct is a right over a tangible object; if that object is destroyed, the usufruct inevitably goes too. 3 GAIUS,Common Matters or Golden Words, book 2: A usufruct can be created over any landed estate whatever by means of a legacy in that an heir may be ordered to make over the usufruct to a particular person. He is held to do so if he takes the legatee on to the land or suffers him to use and enjoy it. If a man wants to create a usufruct other than by will, however, he can do so by means of pacts and stipulations . 1. A usufruct may be created not only over land and houses but also in slaves, beasts of burden, and other types of property. 2. However, so that bare ownership might not become altogether worthless due to a usufruct being continually outstanding , it has been settled that a usufruct may be extinguished in certain specific ways and revert to the bare ownership. 3. Moreover, a bare right of use can, in practice, be created or terminated in the same ways as is a usufruct. 4 PAUL,Edict, book 2: In many respects, usufruct is a fraction of ownership and stands by itself in that it can be granted so as to take effect immediately or from a future day. 5 PAPINIAN, Questions, book 7: At the outset, a usufruct can be created with reference to a divided or undivided share of a thing; it can also be lost in either case by the lapse of the statutory period and, on the same principle, be reduced as a result of the provisions of the lex Falcidia. Further, if the party who promised to grant a usufruct dies, the obligation to do so is divided in proportion to the shares held in his inheritance . If a usufruct falls to be granted over an estate which is owned in common and one of the co-owners is defendant in an action brought to enforce the obligation, satisfaction will have to be given in accordance with that defendant's share in the estate. 6 GAIUS,Provincial Edict, book 7: A usufruct can be created in a number of ways; for example, it may be left as a legacy. On the other hand, the bare ownership of property, under reservation of the usufruct, can be the subject of a legacy with the result that the usufruct will remain with the heir. 1. Further, a usufruct may be created in an action for dividing an inheritance or in one for dividing common property, if the judge awards the bare ownership to one party and the usufruct to the other. 2. We may acquire a usufruct not only through ourselves but also through those persons whom we have in our power. 3. Moreover, there is nothing to prevent my slave being instituted heir and the bare ownership being left by way of legacy under reservation of the usufruct. BOOK SEVENIUSUFRUCT 217 7 ULPIAN,Sabinus, book 17: When a usufruct is left as a legacy, all fruits of the property concerned belong to the usufructuary. A usufruct of either immovable or movable property may be left by way of legacy. 1. When a usufruct of immovable property, for example, a house, is left as a legacy, all income from it belongs to the usufructuary, as well as whatever revenue there may be from buildings, open ground, and any other appurtenances of the house. Accordingly, it has been settled that the usufructuary may be authorized to take possession of an adjacent house on the grounds of threatened damage and that he will hold that house as owner, if the other party persists in withholding security; nor will he lose anything when the usufruct comes to an end. Similarly, Labeo states that the owner of the building is not entitled to raise it in height without your [the usufructuary's] permission, just as, when a usufruct of a tract of open ground has been left by way of legacy, a building cannot be erected on that spot. I consider this to be the correct view. 2. Therefore, as all fruits of the subject matter of the usufruct belong to the usufructuary, Celsus tells us in...

Share