Also known as:profit à prendre · profits a prendre · profit a prendre · profit in the soil
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An easement that confers the right to enter and remove timber, minerals, oil, gas, game, or other substances from land in the possession of another.
Sources & Authorities
How it applies
Common Examples
2
Pipeline Operator Claims Extraction Right
East Oil received a deed granting a perpetual pipeline easement across Wade's ranch with rights of ingress and egress over the corridor and adjacent land. During an inspection East Oil discovered commercially viable natural gas pockets just outside the corridor. East Oil now seeks to drill and remove the gas. The claimed right to enter and extract the gas qualifies as a profit because it authorizes removal of a substance from land in another's possession.
Ranch Owners Assert Grazing and Timber Rights
Landowners whose predecessors settled near the Taylor Ranch claim rights to graze livestock, gather firewood and timber, hunt, fish, and recreate on the ranch. The claimed rights allow entry onto the ranch to remove natural products. Because the rights authorize removal of substances from land in the possession of another they constitute profits.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Restatements
Casebooks
Hornbooks
Lobato v. Taylor71 P.3d 938 (Colo. 2002) (en banc)
Common questions
Frequently Asked
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How does a profit differ from an ordinary easement?+
A profit authorizes entry to remove substances such as timber or minerals while an ordinary easement authorizes only use or passage. The Restatement defines a profit as an easement that adds the right of removal.
Supporting sources
Can a profit be held in gross?+
Yes. The benefit of a profit may be either appurtenant or in gross while the burden is always appurtenant.
Supporting sources
Does an informal long-term arrangement to remove gravel create a profit?+
A profit exists when the right to enter and remove substances is established even if the arrangement began informally. The right is characterized as a profit rather than a revocable license when it authorizes ongoing removal of resources from the land.
Supporting sources
Does a pipeline easement automatically include a profit to extract nearby gas?+
No. A pipeline easement creates only a use right. A separate profit to remove gas must be expressly granted or clearly implied because the deed is silent on extraction rights outside the corridor.
Supporting sources
71 P.3d 938 (Colo. 2002)Property
…briefing of this twenty-one year-old litigation, agree that the rights at issue are most appropriately characterized as profits à prendre. A profit à prendre—in modern parlance, a profit—"is an easement that confers the right to enter and remove timber, minerals, oil, gas, game, or other substances from land in the possession…
Real PropertyRights in real property · Easements, profits, and licensesUBEFoundational