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Real Property • Profits
PROP#125
Legal Definition
A profit entitles its holder to take some resources from the servient estate. There is an implied easement to enter the servient estate to remove the resources. The same rules governing creation, alienation, and termination of easements are applicable to profits. Profits can be extinguished by surcharge, which is a misuse that overly burdens the servient estate.
Plain English Explanation
In property law, "profit" is short for an old-timey Middle French phrase, "profit-a-prendre", which means "right of taking." Examples of profits are cutting down timber on land to sell to loggers, mining a land of minerals, or fishing in the land's waters. It's a legal property interest (just like an easement) to exploit the land's resources.
Obviously, if you have a right to take stuff from a piece of land, you have to be able to enter the land. Thus, profits include an implied easement in order to enter the land and take the resources. If a profit is abused (over-logging, overfishing, etc.) to the point that it unfairly burdens the property, it can be terminated by something called a "surcharge".
Obviously, if you have a right to take stuff from a piece of land, you have to be able to enter the land. Thus, profits include an implied easement in order to enter the land and take the resources. If a profit is abused (over-logging, overfishing, etc.) to the point that it unfairly burdens the property, it can be terminated by something called a "surcharge".
