EMPHYTEUSIS

In the Roman and civil law. A contract by which a landed estate was leased to a tenant, either in perpetuity or for a long term ot years, upon the reservation of an annual rent or canon, and upon the condition that the le ee should improve the property, by building, cultivating, or otherwise, and with a right in the l0111see to alien the estate at pleasure or pa it to his heirs by descent, and free from any revocation, re-entry, or claim of forfeiture on the part of the grantor, except tor non-payment of the rent. Inst. 8, 2.5, 8; 8 BI. Comm. 282; Maine,.A.nc. Law, 289. The right granted by such a contract, (jus emphyteutlcum, or emphyteutioarium.) The real right by which a person is entitled to enjoy another's estate as if it were his own, and to dispose of its substance, as far as can be done without deteriorating it. Mackeld. Rom. Law, f 326. [s. 427]