noun
surface rights; superficies
Legal term: the right to use land owned by another for building or other purposes. Used in property law contexts.
彼は他人の土地に地上権を設定して家を建てた。
He established surface rights on someone else's land and built a house.
地上権は民法に規定されている物権の一
Surface rights are one of the real rights stipulated in the Civil Code.
所有権 is full ownership, whereas 地上権 is a limited right to use land owned by another.
Compound of 地上 (chijō, 'on the ground') + 権 (ken, 'right'). A legal term coined in the Meiji era to translate Western legal concepts.