I. On Usufruct

I. Notion. Usufruct is the right of receiving the fruits of another's thing, with the substance of the thing preserved. In Roman Law it is called: "the right of using and enjoying another's things, with the substance of the things preserved."¹ From the notion handed down, it is clear that usufruct is not constituted in things which are consumed by first use. A right in things of this sort, for example in wine or oil, is sometimes called quasi-usufruct (St. Alphonsus, III, 487).

¹ Law 1, Digest, De Usu fructu.

II. Acquisition. Usufruct can be acquired: 1. by law, for example where the law grants parents a right in the fruits of the goods of minors; 2. by the will of the owner, who, for example by contract or testament, assigns usufruct to someone.

III. The rights and burdens both of the usufructuary and of the proprietor, what precisely they are, you should deduce from the title by which the usufruct is constituted, and from civil law.

IV. Cessation. Usufruct ceases: 1. by the lapse of the time for which it was constituted, or by fulfillment of the resolutory condition; 2. by the death of the usufructuary, or, if there is question of a moral body, by its dissolution; 3. by the fact that ownership of the thing passes to the usufructuary; 4. by renunciation by the usufructuary of his right; 5. by prescription or non-use for the time required by law; 6. by the destruction of the thing.