usufruct
noun · Nießbrauch
Nießbrauch, the comprehensive right to use a thing and to take its fruits, § 1030 BGB. It is wider than an easement and wider than a mere right of residence, because the holder may also draw the income, for instance let a house and keep the rent, while the owner stays the owner.
Which translation, when
Why
Usufruct is Nießbrauch, and the point is its breadth. Under § 1030 BGB the holder may take all the uses and the fruits of the thing, real property, a right, or a whole estate, so a Nießbraucher of a let building collects the rent while the owner remains owner but is stripped of the use. That separates it from two neighbours. A Dienstbarkeit gives only a single, defined use, a way or a services run; the Nießbrauch gives the full benefit. A Wohnungsrecht, § 1093 BGB, gives only the right to occupy; the Nießbraucher may in addition draw the income. The right is granted to a person, entered in the Grundbuch for land, and is not transferable, § 1059 BGB, although the owner and holder may agree that its exercise is left to another. It is common in anticipated succession, where an owner gives property away but reserves a Nießbrauch for life. English common law seldom uses the word usufruct, reaching instead for a life interest, so where an English source does use it, it means the civilian right, and Nießbrauch is the rendering. So the word maps cleanly, and the value is keeping it apart from the narrower easement and residence rights.
Typical mistakes
- A Nießbrauch reaches the fruits as well as the use, § 1030 BGB, so equating it with a Dienstbarkeit, which grants only a single limited use, understates it.
- It differs from a Wohnungsrecht, § 1093 BGB: the Nießbraucher may draw the income, not merely occupy, so rendering usufruct as a bare right of residence is too narrow.
- The Nießbrauch is not transferable, § 1059 BGB, so treating it as a freely assignable asset is wrong.
What matters
Rendering a comprehensive use-and-income right, the translation should use Nießbrauch, § 1030 BGB, and mark that it covers the fruits and not merely the use, unlike a Dienstbarkeit or a Wohnungsrecht. Since English rarely says usufruct, an English source that does means the civil-law right, not a life estate in the common-law sense.
What the machine misses
Machine output renders usufruct as Nießbrauch but may then treat it like a limited easement or a bare right of residence. It loses that a Nießbrauch under § 1030 BGB reaches all the uses and the fruits, so the holder may let a building and keep the rent, and that it is personal and not transferable, § 1059 BGB. The rendering understates a right that strips the owner of the benefit while leaving ownership in place.
Examples
| a usufruct over the property | ein Nießbrauch an dem Grundstück |
| to reserve a usufruct for life | einen Nießbrauch auf Lebenszeit vorbehalten |
| the usufructuary draws the fruits | der Nießbraucher zieht die Nutzungen |
| a usufruct over an estate | ein Nießbrauch an einem Vermögen |