FIDEI-COMMISSUM
FIDEI-COMMISSUM, civil law. A gift which a man makes to another, through the agency of a third person, who is requested to perform the desire of the giver. For example, when a testator writes, "I institute for my heir, Lucius Titius," he may add, "I pray my heir, Lucius Titius, to deliver, as soon as he shall be able, my succession to Caius Seius: cum igitur aliquis scripserit Lucius Tilius heres esto; potest ajicere, rogo te Luci Titi, ut cum poteris hereditatem meam adire, eam Caio Sceio reddas, restituas. Inst. 2, 23, 2; vide Code 6, 42.
2. Fidei-commissa were abolished in Louisiana by the code. 5 N. S. 302.
3. The uses of the common law, it is said, were borrowed from the Roman fidei-commissum. 1 Cru. Dig. 388; Bac. Read. 19; 1 Madd. Ch. 446-7.
4. The fidei-coimmissa of the civil law, have been supposed to resemble entails, though some writers have declared that the Roman law was a stranger to entails. 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 1708.