FRUTTI. — The juridical concept of f. is far broader than the natural and common concept. In juridical terms, f. is everything that a thing produces naturally or by virtue of human activity.
I. IN CIVIL LAW
There are two categories of fruits: natural fruits, those which proceed directly from the thing, whether or not human labor contributes to them, such as agricultural products, the offspring of animals, and the products of forests and mines; civil fruits, those obtained from the thing as consideration for the enjoyment that another has of it, such as interest on capital, emphyteutic dues, annuities, and rents (II. Civil Code, art. 820).Fruits may be found in different legal situations: while still attached to the thing that produced them (e.g., wool on sheep), they are called pending; detached from the thing by natural force (apples from the tree) or by human action (wool shorn from sheep), they are called separated; detached naturally and having passed into someone’s possession, they are called gathered. If the detachment occurs through human action, separation and gathering take place simultaneously. Fruits that could have been gathered but in fact were not are called gatherable. According to whether or not they still exist in nature, there are existing fruits (extantes) and consumed fruits (consumpti).
Fruits constitute a category of accessory goods in relation to the principal thing that produces them. Before separation, they form part of the thing itself and follow its legal status. They may nevertheless be disposed of as future movable property (art. 820). Once separated, they acquire commercial value in their own right.
Fruits normally belong to the owner of the thing that produced them; they may, however, also belong to others, e.g., the emphyteuta, the user, the usufructuary, the possessor in good faith who holds the thing without being its owner, the apparent heir, etc. (art. 821).
The juridical fact that ordinarily determines the acquisition of natural fruits is separation. The acquisition of civil fruits, on the other hand, is determined by their daily accrual; that is, they are acquired from day to day, in proportion to the duration of the right (art. 821).
Thus the emphyteuta, who has the same rights as the owner over the fruits of the land, acquires the fruits themselves upon separation (art. 959); likewise, the user and the usufructuary acquire civil fruits on the basis of daily accrual, and natural fruits upon separation, without the need for gathering: consequently, upon the termination of the usufruct and the use, when returning the thing they may retain for themselves all natural fruits that have been separated, even if they have not yet been gathered. Both kinds belong to them for the duration of their right. If, therefore, the beginning or end of the usufruct or use occurs during the period of production, so that the owner and the usufructuary, or user, succeed one another in the enjoyment of the thing, the total fruits must be divided between them in proportion to the duration of their respective rights during that period (arts. 984, 1020); V. uso; usufrutto.
The possessor in good faith, on the other hand, who holds the thing without being its owner, acquires the natural and civil fruits, respectively upon separation and accrual, only until the day on which the owner judicially demands restitution of the thing: from the time of the judicial demand, he must return to the owner not only the fruits gathered, but also those that could have been gathered and that, through his negligence, he had failed to gather. The possessor in bad faith is liable for fruits gathered and gatherable even before the judicial demand (art. 1148); V. POSSESSO; POSSESSORE DI BUONA FEDE.
The same principles concerning the acquisition of fruits by the possessor in good faith also apply to the apparent heir who possesses hereditary property in good faith (art. 535).
Special rules govern the acquisition and division of dowry fruits in the event of dissolution of the marriage (arts. 198–99).
II. IN CANON LAW
Canon law shares with civil law, receiving them from the common source of Roman law, the doctrinal principles concerning things and the fruits of things, and adopts, with the same effects, the same norms of civil law, provided that these do not conflict with divine law and do not concern specific situations directly regulated by it itself (cann. 1529, 1508), as occurs, for example, with the fruits of benefices, pious foundations, and the dowry of religious women.The fruits of a benefice belong to the beneficiary from the moment he takes possession. He enjoys and freely disposes of them, as a full right, only within the limits of what is necessary for his honest and decorous support, while remaining under the obligation to devote the surplus to the poor or to pious causes (cann. 1472–73). Unlike the usufructuary, he acquires day by day, pro rata temporis, not only civil fruits but also natural ones, independently of their separation. On the basis of this principle, the fruits, after liabilities have been deducted, are to be calculated and divided in the event of succession to the benefice title (can. 1480).
The fruits of a vacant benefice, after expenses and any other liabilities have been deducted, are to be devoted one half to increasing the benefice endowment and the other half to the church or chapel in which the benefice was erected (can. 1481).
Those excommunicated post sententium (can. 2266), those who refuse to make the required profession of faith (can. 2403), those who fail to comply with the obligation of residence (cann. 2381 n. 1, 2168 § 1, 2170, 2172), those suspended from the benefice (can. 2280 § 2), and the synonymi (cann. 729, n. 2) forfeit the fruits of the benefice; V. BENEFICIO.
The distribution of the fruits of a pious foundation must be strictly regulated by the bishop in the foundation charters (can. 1545); V. FONDAZIONE PIA (CAUSA PIA).
The fruits of the dowry of religious women must be administered by the superior of the monastery or institute, under the supervision of the Ordinary of the place (can. 550). Fruits already accrued remain with the monastery or institute if the religious woman permanently leaves II. In the event of transfer to another institute, the latter shall enjoy the fruits of the dowry from the beginning of the new novitiate (can. 551).
Zaccaria da San Mauro