PERSONAL SERVITUDES

In addition to the praedial servitudes, there was also a category of personal servitudes. In this case, the benefit of the servitude was held by an individual personally, rather than in his capacity as owner of land.

Nature of usufruct

A usufruct was the right to the use and fruits of corporeal property, whether land or moveables. It was most commonly created as a legacy and lasted for the lifetime of the usufructuary (the holder of the usufruct). As the property was to be restored intact to the owner at the termination of the usufruct, a usufruct could not originally be created over perishable property or property that was consumed by use (such as money or food or drink). During the early Empire, however, it was made permissible to create a “quasi-usufruct� over such property in a will. In a quasi-usufruct, the usufructuary effectively became owner subject to an obligation to restore an equivalent. In the case of a quasi-usufruct over money, the usufructuary had to give security for the return of the same amount of money.

Rights and obligations of the parties

As noted, the owner of the property was entitled to have the property restored to him at the end of the usufruct. Accordingly, the usufructuary was bound to maintain the property and was not permitted to encroach on the substance of the property, for example by cutting down trees or demolishing buildings. The usufructuary was, however, entitled to take the fruits of the property.

Related rights

Three other personal servitudes were recognised. Usus was like usufruct, but without the right to the fruits of the property. Habitatio and operae servorum were similar to usus, but related to houses and the services of slaves respec­tively.