jurisdictions employ the terms ‘income-producing’, ‘usufructuary’ and ‘fruendi’ leases to distinguish ordinary leases from other leases. Here we preferred the term ‘income-producing’ leases. To overcome the difficulty of the English institution of liferent being embedded in the English law of trust giving rise to a mere personal right with little proprietary effect, the more familiar term ‘usufruct’ received from Roman law in the continental civilian jurisdictions and the mixed jurisdictions of Scotland and South Africa is used. The politically incorrect term ‘personal servitude’ is used to encompass the institutions of usufruct, the right of use and the right of habitation, despite its vivid reminder of the services owed by vassals under the abhorrent medieval feudal system of landownership. The term now signifies the inextricable connection of these rights with the life of the holders of these rights. Real difficulty was also experienced in finding an English equivalent for the institutions of superÞcies and emphyteusis. Since superÞcies essentially entitles its holder to improve the land by the construction of buildings,4 the term ‘hereditary building right’ has been settled for. The concept of emphyteusis was the hardest nut to crack. Since it entails a transferable and transmissible right, akin to ownership, to improve and exploit the land for a longer period of time, the term ‘hereditary land lease’ was decided upon.

4.3. ClassiÞcation of the national reports represented

This study contains three reports from jurisdictions following the German approach; six reports from jurisdictions modelled on French law origins; the English report from the prime common law jurisdiction; the Scottish and South African reports representing mixed jurisdictions; the Danish report from the Scandinavian legal family and two reports from the Eastern European jurisdictions of Poland and Hungary. In the Case studies in Part II, the reports are arranged in alphabetical order.

5. Structure of the book

This work comprises three parts. Part I consists of four chapters. Chapter 1 sets the scene in the Prologue. Chapter 2 provides a general introduction explaining the legal context of time-limited interests in land. This is followed by Chapter 3, which contains a historical review of the evolution of the maxim ‘sale breaks hire’ – which gradually led to

4 In some jurisdictions planting and sowing are also allowed.