https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usufruct

"A person can create a voluntary usufruct by lifetime gift or in his or her Last Will and Testament. This is a useful estate planning technique, especially in previous marriage situations. It is common for a spouse’s will to give the surviving spouse a usufruct over all community property. This provides for the spouse during her lifetime while ensuring that the decedent’s children (who may not be the spouse’s children) ultimately receive the property."

"Implications of buying a property with usufruct rights (life interest)
...By definition, usufruct or “life interest” refers to the right of a person (holder of the usufruct rights) to use and enjoy in its entirety an asset which is owned by another person (the bare owner) ...."

http://thismatter.com/money/real-estate/estates-in-land.htm
A life estate is a freehold estate where ownership is limited to the duration of some person’s lifetime... The life tenant can lease, sell, or mortgage only his ownership interest in the property. The life tenant cannot alienate the property, nor can he allow the estate to waste

http://info.legalzoom.com/happens-remainderman-life-estate-d...
A person who reserves a life estate on a property deed has the right to live on and use the property until she dies. Sometimes, as part of estate planning, a person will transfer her real estate to another person, such as her child, while keeping a life estate for herself.

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Note added at 22 hrs (2016-06-30 10:46:23 GMT)
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http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPag...
Common law life estate and the civil law usufruct
...in this one instance, the two systems have arrived at substantially the same position

https://books.google.rs/books?id=O1m1bI5vCooC&pg=PA919&lpg=P...
usufruct - civil-law term comparable to the common law life-estate, means "the lifelong right of possession, use or enjoyment of another's property, as far as may be had without causing damage or prejudice to the owner". A common-law will might leave A a life estate with the remainder to B; a civilian will would ordinarily leave the property to B subject to a usufruct to A for life.