fructus^(Lat)

Fruits; the organic produce; that which springs from land. A term essentially of Roman and civil law. 'Fructus' may be fructus industriales or fructus naturales. Fructus industriales are fruits of labor or industry, i.e. such crops or other products of the soil as are produced by man's industry through sowing and cultivation, including most vegetables, corn, wheat, rye, oats and other grain crops. Fructus naturales are fruits of nature, i.e. crops that grow naturally and independently of man's industry such as grasses, perennial bushes or trees (including the fruits therefrom that do not need to have a crop taken to ensure rejuvenation), especially where "the labour employed in their planting bears so small a proportion to their natural growth", Marshall v Green (1875) 1 CPD 35, 40. Fructus industriales may also be defined as annual crops obtained by yearly labor and cultivation and are the equivalent to common law emblements, being goods and not any part of the land; whereas fructus naturales are normally part and parcel of the land and pass on a conveyance of land (Webb v. Arrington, 249 Md 46, 238 A.2d 243, 245 (Md App 1968); Falk v. Amsberry, 279 Or 417, 569 P.2d 558, 560 n. 2 (1977)). Rent from a property held purely to produce income represents a form of fructus.  See also fruits, usufruct.

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