Legal Definitions - civil fruit

Civil fruit refers to the income or revenue that an owner receives from their property or asset, not through its physical production or natural growth, but through legal arrangements or contracts. It represents the monetary benefits or returns derived from the use or ownership of something, often without altering the principal asset itself.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Imagine a person who owns a commercial office building. They lease out various office spaces to different businesses. The monthly rent payments collected from these tenants are considered civil fruits. These payments are income generated from the property (the building) through contractual agreements (lease contracts), rather than from the building itself naturally producing something or being physically altered.

• Consider a savings account held at a bank. The bank pays a small percentage of interest on the money deposited in the account. This interest earned by the account holder is a civil fruit. The principal amount of money in the account is the asset, and the interest is the income derived from allowing the bank to use that money, based on the terms of the banking agreement. The original capital remains, while additional value is generated.

• Suppose an individual owns a portfolio of corporate bonds. These bonds are essentially loans made to companies, and in return, the companies promise to pay the bondholder regular interest payments. These periodic interest payments received by the bondholder are civil fruits. They are the income generated from the financial asset (the bonds) through a lending agreement, separate from the repayment of the original principal amount of the loan.