PROFIT

profit,n.1. The excess of revenues over expenditures in a business transaction; GAIN(2). Cf. EARNINGS; INCOME. [Cases: Internal Revenue 3178; Taxation 996. C.J.S. Internal Revenue § 110; Taxation §§ 1732–1733.]

accumulated profit.Profit that has accrued but not yet been distributed; earned surplus. — Also termed undivided profit. See retained earnings under EARNINGS. [Cases: Internal Revenue 3833.]

gross profit.Total sales revenue less the cost of the goods sold, no adjustment being made for additional expenses and taxes. Cf. net profit. [Cases: Internal Revenue 3175; Taxation 979, 996. C.J.S. Internal Revenue §§ 107–108, 110, 112; Taxation §§ 1732–1733.]

lost profits.See LOST PROFITS.

mesne profits.The profits of an estate received by a tenant in wrongful possession between two dates. — Also termed (archaically) medium tempus. [Cases: Ejectment 124. C.J.S. Ejectment §§ 139–140.]

net profit.Total sales revenue less the cost of the goods sold and all additional expenses. — Also termed net revenue. Cf. gross profit. [Cases: Internal Revenue 3175; Taxation 980, 996. C.J.S. Internal Revenue §§ 107–108, 110, 112; Taxation §§ 1715–1716, 1732–1733.]

operating profit.Total sales revenue less all operating expenses, no adjustment being made for any nonoperating income and expenses, such as interest payments. [Cases: Internal Revenue 3175; Taxation 980, 996. C.J.S. Internal Revenue §§ 107–108, 110, 112; Taxation §§ 1715–1716, 3825
1732–1733.]

paper profit.A profit that is anticipated but not yet realized. • Gains from stock holdings, for example, are paper profits until the stock is actually sold at a price higher than its original purchase price. — Also termed unrealized profit. [Cases: Internal Revenue 3178; Taxation 981.
C.J.S. Internal Revenue § 110; Taxation § 1717.]

short-swing profits.See SHORT-SWING PROFITS.

surplus profit.Corporations. The excess of revenue over expenditures. • Some jurisdictions prohibit the declaration of a dividend from sources other than surplus profit. [Cases: Corporations 151. C.J.S. Corporations § 293.]

undistributed profit.See retained earnings under EARNINGS.

undivided profit.See accumulated profit.

unrealized profit.See paper profit.

2. A servitude that gives the right to pasture cattle, dig for minerals, or otherwise take away some part of the soil; PROFIT à PRENDRE. • A profit may be either appurtenant or in gross. See SERVITUDE(1). [Cases: Licenses 43.C.J.S. Easements § 9; Licenses § 88.]

profit appendant (<<schwa>>-pen-d<<schwa>>nt). A profit annexed to land by operation of law; esp., a common of pasture. See common appendant under COMMON.

profit appurtenant (<<schwa>>-p<<schwa>>rt-<<schwa>>n-<<schwa>>nt). A profit, whether several or in common, attached to land, for the benefit of certain other identified land, by the act of the parties (as by grant or by prescription). See common appurtenant under COMMON.

profit in gross (in grohs). A profit exercisable by the owner independently of his or her ownership of land. See common in gross under COMMON.
“[A] right to take fish from a canal without stint (i.e., without limit) can exist as a profit in gross, but not, as already seen, as a profit appurtenant. A profit in gross is an interest in land which will pass under the owner’s will or intestacy or can be sold or dealt with in any of the usual ways.” Robert E. Megarry & M.P. Thompson, A Manual of the Law of Real Property 377 (6th ed. 1993).

profit pur cause de vicinage (p<<schwa>>r kawz d<<schwa>> vis-<<schwa>>-nij). A profit arising when the holders of adjoining commons have allowed their cattle to stray on each other’s lands. • A claim for this profit fails if one of the commoners fences off the common or has in the past driven off the other commoner’s cattle.

[Blacks Law 8th]