Legal Definitions - fruges

Fruges

In Roman and civil law, fruges refers to edible agricultural products or crops. It specifically denotes items grown from the earth that are intended for human or animal consumption, such as grains, fruits, and vegetables.

Examples:

• A Roman landowner's annual harvest includes a substantial amount of wheat and lentils from their fields. These grains and legumes, cultivated for sustenance, would be considered fruges.

  This illustrates fruges as the edible crops produced through agricultural labor, forming a key part of the landowner's assets and the community's food supply.

• During a legal dispute over inherited land, the court must determine who is entitled to the recently gathered olives from an ancient grove. The olives, being the edible fruit of cultivated trees, fall under the category of fruges.

  Here, fruges highlights the economic and legal significance of edible produce when ownership or rights to agricultural output are contested.

• A tenant farmer is obligated by contract to provide a portion of their vineyard's grape yield to the landowner as rent. These grapes, intended for consumption or wine production, represent fruges.

  This example demonstrates how fruges applies to the edible produce that forms the basis of contractual agreements, taxes, or obligations related to agricultural land.