Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

quasi-usufruct

A right to consume things that would otherwise be useless, such as money or food. ( Unlike a perfect usufruct, a quasi-usufruct actually involves alteration and diminution of the property used. - Also termed imperfect usufruct. "The Roman jurists, therefore, would not acknowledge a usufruct of money; though, in their desire to carry out the wishes of testators, they came at length to recognize a quasi-usufruct. For testators, being seldom learned in the law, would often set forth as legacies in their wills the usufruct of a designated sum In such a case the person named as legatee was allowed to receive the amount on giving security that when he died the same amount should be paid out of his own estate to the heres, the heir of the testator. The relation here, though bearing some resemblance to the usufruct, was really quite different; the person who received the money became absolute owner of it; the heir had no ownership, nothing but the assurance of receiving an equal amount at some future time." James Hadley, Introduction to Roman Law 193 (1881).