Superficies

Superficies is a Latin legal term referring to anything which is placed upon and attached to the ground, and most commonly refers to a building erected on land owned by another.

Roman law

Under Roman law, ownership of a building was considered inseparable from ownership of the land beneath it. A person with the right to use the land for a superficies, known as a superficarius, enjoyed a right to use the superficies, bequeath it to his heirs and encumber it, despite not "owning" it outright. The right was known as a Jus Superficiarium. [1]

Japanese law

Japanese law provides for a similar right, known as chijōken (地上権^?, lit. "above-ground rights") in Japanese and officially translated as "superficies."

The right is defined under Article 265 of the Civil Code as the right to use the land of another for the purpose of owning buildings, trees or bamboo.

A superficies may also be created by operation of law when a mortgage is foreclosed. If the foreclosure leads to the land and building(s) thereon falling under separate ownership, but the land and building(s) were owned by the same person when the mortgage was created, then a "statutory superficies" (法定地上権, hōtei chijōken^?) is automatically created to facilitate separate ownership of the building(s).

Unlike a land lease, a superficies is considered to be a property right, can be indefinite in duration, imposes no upkeep obligations on the landowner, and is freely transferable without the landowner's consent.

Korean law

The equivalent right under Korean law is called jisang-gwon (지상권).