Legal Definitions - à prendre

À prendre is a legal term, originating from French, meaning "for taking" or "to be taken." In property law, it refers to a specific right held by one person to enter another person's land and take a natural product of that land. This right is distinct from merely using the land; it involves the actual removal of something that grows on or is found within the land. It is most commonly encountered in the phrase profit à prendre, which describes a right to take a profit from the soil of another.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Timber Harvesting Rights
  Imagine a scenario where a large estate owner grants a local timber company the exclusive right to enter a specific section of their forest each year for a decade to harvest a predetermined volume of mature pine trees. This is an example of an à prendre right because the timber company is legally entitled to enter the estate owner's land and take a natural product (the timber) from it. They are not just passing through or enjoying the scenery; they are actively removing and keeping a valuable resource that grows on the land.

• Commercial Fishing Privileges
  Consider a situation where a private fishing cooperative purchases the right to fish for salmon in a particular stretch of a river that flows through a rancher's private property. This arrangement represents an à prendre right. The cooperative members have the legal authority to access the rancher's land to catch and remove fish, which are a natural resource of the river flowing through that property. The right allows them to "take" the fish for their own benefit.

• Quarrying for Stone
  Suppose a construction firm obtains a legal agreement from a rural landowner to excavate and remove a certain quantity of limestone from a designated quarry area on their property over a five-year period. This is an instance of an à prendre right. The construction firm is granted permission to enter the landowner's property and extract a natural component of the land itself (the limestone) for commercial use. They are taking a "profit" directly from the soil.