Legal Definitions - profit à prendre

A profit à prendre is a legal right that allows a person to enter another individual's land and take away a specific, naturally occurring item of value from that land. This item must be something that is part of the soil, grows from the soil, or is a wild animal living on the land, and it must be something that can be owned once taken. It is distinct from an easement, which typically grants a right to use another's land for a specific purpose (like a right-of-way) but not to take something from it.

• Imagine a homeowner who has a large, undeveloped wooded area on their property. They grant a local mushroom foraging club the exclusive right to enter this specific area during the autumn months to collect wild mushrooms.

  This is a profit à prendre because the club members are given permission to go onto another's land and take something of value (wild mushrooms) that grows naturally from the soil, and which becomes their property once collected.

• Consider a rancher whose property contains a unique type of mineral-rich soil. They enter into an agreement allowing a ceramics artist to periodically access a designated section of their land to dig and collect this specific clay for their pottery.

  This arrangement constitutes a profit à prendre. The artist has the right to enter the rancher's land and remove a valuable substance (clay) that is part of the soil itself, and which the artist then owns.

• A private estate with a well-stocked fishing pond grants a local youth organization the annual right to hold a fishing derby on their property, allowing the participants to keep any fish they catch.

  This scenario illustrates a profit à prendre. The youth organization and its members are permitted to enter the estate's land to take something of value (fish) that are wild animals living on the property, and which become the property of the individual who catches them.