Usufruct (/ˈjusəfrʌkt/) is a limited real right (or in rem right) found in civil law and mixed jurisdictions that unites the two property interests of usus and fructus:

A usufruct is either granted in severalty or held in common ownership, as long as the property is not damaged or destroyed. The third civilian property interest is abusus (literally abuse), the right to alienate the thing possessed, either by consuming or destroying it (e.g., for profit), or by transferring it to someone else (e.g., sale, exchange, gift). Someone enjoying all three rights has full ownership.

Generally, a usufruct is a system in which a person or group of persons uses the real property (often land) of another. The "usufructuary" does not own the property, but does have a legally cognizable interest in it, which is sanctioned or contractually granted by the owner. Two different types of usufruct exist: perfect and imperfect. In perfect usufruct, the usufructuary is entitled to the use of the property but cannot substantially change it. For example, an owner of a house can grant a usufruct to a resident; the resident could live in (use) the house, but could not (without the owner's assent) renovate it or tear it down and build a bigger house.

An imperfect usufruct gives the usufructuary some rights to modify the property. For example, if a land owner grants a piece of land to a usufructuary for agriculture, the usufructuary may be given the right to make improvements for agricultural purposes such as building a barn or laying irrigation pipes. This, however, may be ill-advised for the usufructuary inasmuch as they do not own whatever improvements they make and have no claim against the owner for their value, unless this is specifically laid out in the contract creating the usufruct.^{[additional citation(s) needed]}

In many cases of tenure by usufruct, such as the ejido system in Mexico, individuals or groups may only acquire the usufruct of the property, not legal ownership. Usufructs are similar in nature to common-law life estates, save that a usufruct can be granted for a specified term rather than for life.

Usufruct comes from civil law, under which it is a subordinate real right (ius in re aliena) of specified duration, usually for a person's lifetime. The holder of a usufruct, known as the usufructuary, has the right to use (usus) the property and enjoy its fruits (fructus). In modern terms, fructus more or less corresponds to the profit derived, as when selling the "fruits" (in both literal and figurative senses) of the land, or leasing homes on the land to tenants.

Fruits refers to any renewable commodity on the property, including (among others) agricultural goods (literal "fruits", hence the name), livestock, goods produced in a factory, or rents from tenants. These may be divided into civil (fructus civiles), industrial (fructus industriales), and natural fruits (fructus naturales), the latter of which, in Roman law, included slaves and livestock.

Under Roman law, usufruct was a type of personal servitude (servitutes personarum), a beneficial right in another's property. The usufructuary never had possession (in the legal sense) of the property (on the basis that if he possessed at all, he did so through the owner), but did have an interest in the property itself for the specified period (either a set term or a lifetime). Unlike the owner, the usufructuary did not have a right of alienation (abusus), but could sell or lease the usufructuary interest. Even though the usufructary did not hold possessory title, he had a cause of action against infringements on his usufruct rights by a third party, such as theft of goods from the property.