Mesne (pronounced "mean") profits are sums of money paid for the occupation of land to a person with right of immediate occupation, where no permission has been given for that occupation.
[Farran, Sue and Paterson, Donald. ''South Pacific Property Law.'' Florence, Ky.: Routledge, 2004, p. 90.] The concept is
feudal in origin, and common in countries which rely on the
English legal system
English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures.
Principal elements of English law
Although the common law has, historically, bee ...
(including many former British colonies).
The word is derived from the root word
demesne.
Mesne profits commonly occur where a
landlord
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, t ...
has obtained an order from a court to
evict a
tenant, or where an individual sues to eject a ''
bona fide'' landowner to whom
title
A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...
to
land
Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various isla ...
was improperly
conveyed. The mesne profit represents the value (living rent-free, profits earned from the land, etc.) the ejected tenant received from the property between the time the court ordered the eviction and the time when the tenant actually left the property. Mesne profits must be drawn from the land itself,
rather than improvements on it. For example, mesne profits may accrue from growing crops on land but would not generally accrue from a factory built on the land (unless there were damage to the land or improvements to the land itself such as the removal of stone from a field).
A statute of limitations (usually six years) often limits the tenant-in-error's liability.
Calculating mesne profits is often regulated by statute, but may be litigated in a
court of equity. Mesne profits may be calculated, even though there may be no point in doing so (as in the case where land was flooded by a dam, and the dam is not going to be removed).
[See, for example, ''Winchester v. Stevens Point'', 58 Wis. 350, 17 N.W. 3 (Wis.1883).] In the United States, laws regulating mesne profits have been the subject of
Supreme Court decisions, such as ''
Green v. Biddle
''Green v. Biddle'', 1 U.S. (8 Wheat.) 1 (1823), is a 6-to-1 ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States that held that the U.S. state, state of Virginia had properly entered into a compact with the United States federal government under Artic ...
'', 21 U.S. 1 (1823).
See also
*
Housing tenure
Housing tenure is a financial arrangement and ownership structure under which someone has the right to live in a house or apartment. The most frequent forms are leasehold estate, tenancy, in which renting, rent is paid by the occupant to a landlo ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mesne Profits
Profit
Real property law