mesne profits

Mesne profits are the profits which the person in wrongful possession of property actually received, or might with ordinary diligence have received, from it, together with interest. They do not include profits due to improvements made by the person in wrongful possession.

They are claimed by the owner in a suit for possession, and the court may pass a preliminary decree directing an inquiry into mesne profits, followed by a final decree fixing the amount. Mesne profits are measured by what the wrongdoer gained or could have gained, not by the plaintiff's loss.

Example

Along with possession, the decree awarded mesne profits at the market rent from the date of the suit till delivery of possession.

In Indian law

• Section 2(12), Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (definition)
• Order XX, Rule 12, CPC (decree for possession and mesne profits)

See also

decree · preliminary decree · possession · tenant at sufferance

Read more in the study notes

• Introduction to the CPC: procedural law, history and key definitions (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)
• Plaint: its parts, return and rejection (Order VII) (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)
• Judgment and decree: definitions, kinds, and Order XX (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)
• Interim orders: commissions, arrest and attachment before judgment, temporary injunctions and receivers (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)
• Reference, review and revision; caveat, restitution and the inherent powers of the court (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)
• Torts against property (Law of Torts)