emphyteusis

1. (law) A right to enjoyment of property with a given stipulation that the property will be improved or maintained in an agreed upon manner; long leaseholdExamples: "The term “emphyteusis” first appeared late in the twelfth century. It remained a rather artificial term, appearing in official documents but rare in leases themselves until the later thirteenth century. It clearly meant a long-term lease but lawyers expended a certain amount of energy trying to relate emphyteusis to other categories of usufruct (ius in re aliena). Opinion divided, broadly speaking, between those who regarded emphyteusis as resembling normal establishments of peasants by lease, and those who saw an emphyteutic tenure as a sort of fief."