Usufruct Quotes (2 quotes)
Man has too long forgotten that the earth was given to him for usufruct alone, not for consumption, still less for profligate waste.
Man and Nature, (1864), 35. The word usufruct comes from Latin words in Roman law, usus et fructus for use and fruit (enjoyment), now meaning the temporary right to the use and enjoyment of the property of another, without changing the character of the property.
We may consider the renting of a property for several years as a sale of the usufruct during the time of the lease. Now nine years' possession, for example, is equal to more than a third of the value of the property, supposing the annual product to be one twentieth of the capital. It would then be reasonable to apply to this sort of sale the laws which govern that of landed property, and consequently the mutation tax. The person who cannot or will not cultivate his soil, instead of alienating the property itself, binds himself to alienate the usufruct for a time, and the price is paid at stated intervals instead of all at once. There is farm rent.
From Appendix A, 'Extracts From the Unpublished Writings of Carnot', Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat (1890, 2nd ed. 1897), 214.