Also known as: profits · profiting · net profit · gross profit
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A nonpossessory interest that confers the right to enter land possessed by another and remove timber, minerals, oil, gas, game, or other substances. The burden of a profit is always appurtenant while the benefit may be either appurtenant or in gross.
Financial gain or benefit derived from a transaction or business activity. An agent, partner, member, or trustee who obtains such a gain in connection with duties owed to a principal or entity must account for and surrender it.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
A nonpossessory interest that confers the right to enter land possessed by another and remove timber, minerals, oil, gas, game, or other substances. The burden of a profit is always appurtenant while the benefit may be either appurtenant or in gross.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Prime Logistics obtains a recorded instrument allowing it to enter Progressive Healthcare's wooded parcel and harvest standing timber. The instrument creates a profit because it authorizes entry and removal of a substance from land possessed by another rather than mere use of the surface.
A profit authorizes entry onto land to remove a substance such as timber or minerals, whereas an easement authorizes entry and use without removal. The distinction appears in the Restatement treatment of servitudes and in standard property hornbooks.
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The burden of a profit is always appurtenant to the servient estate. The benefit may be either appurtenant to a dominant estate or held in gross.
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Financial gain or benefit derived from a transaction or business activity. An agent, partner, member, or trustee who obtains such a gain in connection with duties owed to a principal or entity must account for and surrender it.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Perry Pratt serves as a state legislator while also holding a paid position advising a federal agency. When Pratt seeks appointment as a presidential elector, the state election board rejects the application because the federal role constitutes an office of profit under the United States.
Judge Paula Pierce is invited to serve on the planning committee for a fundraising gala hosted by a civic organization not conducted for profit. The judge agrees to assist with event logistics but declines to solicit contributions from anyone outside her immediate family.
Premier Manufacturing's law firm includes its nonlawyer office manager in a retirement plan that distributes a share of firm profits. The arrangement complies with professional conduct rules because the plan covers employees even though distributions rest on a profit-sharing formula.
An agent must surrender any profit obtained in connection with transactions conducted on the principal's behalf unless the parties otherwise agree. The duty arises even if the principal suffers no loss.
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Yes. Professional conduct rules expressly permit a lawyer or firm to include nonlawyer employees in compensation or retirement plans even when distributions rest on a profit-sharing arrangement.
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…some other customers, and they lost the means and opportunity of selling flour, sharps, and bran and were deprived of gains and profits which otherwise would have accrued, and were unable to employ their workmen, to whom they were compelled to pay wages during that period; they thus suffered damages to the amount claimed of…
…return on their investment in the Terminal itself; (3) even if the Terminal proper could never operate at a reasonable profit
…classes that train students directly for jobs make a difference? Does it matter if the school is public or private, nonprofit or profit
…See San Diego Gas & Electric Co. v. San Diego , 450 U. S., at 652 (dissenting opinion). "[F]or what is the land but the profits thereof[?]" 1 E. Coke, Institutes, ch. 1, § 1 (1st Am. ed. 1812). Surely, at least, in the extraordinary circumstance when no productive or economically beneficial use of land is…
…But as applied, that concept's potential was not realized, for the court did not limit the award to anywhere near the $56,000 in profits evidenced in the record. Given the record's description of the conduct and its prevalence, this factor could not justify much of the $2 million award. (d) Green Oil 's fourth factor is…
Paul Peterson, acting as purchasing agent for Precision Tools, negotiates a side payment from a supplier on a large order placed for his principal. Peterson must turn the payment over to Precision Tools because an agent may not retain profit arising from transactions conducted on the principal's behalf.
Philip Powell, a member of a member-managed LLC, uses company information to purchase adjacent land at a discount and resells it for a substantial gain. Powell must account to the LLC and hold the profit as trustee for the company because the gain was derived from use of the company's property.
No senator, representative, or person holding an office of profit under the United States may be appointed an elector. The restriction prevents federal officials from serving in the electoral college.
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A member in a member-managed LLC must account to the company and hold as trustee any profit derived from use of the company's property in the conduct of the company's activities.
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