fideicommissum
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GC: n

S: USL (last access: 15 February 2026); Benaters (last access: 15 February 2026).

N: 1. fidei commissum. Latin fidei commissum, from neuter past participle of fideicommittere to bequeath (a thing) with the request that it be delivered to a third person, from fidei, dative of fides trust + committere to place in the hands of, entrust.

  • fidei-commissum is a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: Latin fidei-commissum.

    The earliest known use of the noun fidei-commissum is in the early 1700s.

    OED’s earliest evidence for fidei-commissum is from 1728, in the writing of Ephraim Chambers, encyclopaedist.

2. fidei commissum, singular noun; plural: fidei commissa.

  • in the civil law of Louisiana : a gift (as by will) of property in which a person is invested with title and which the person is directed to convey to another person or to make a particular disposition of.
  • It’s a type of gift, often specified in a will, where one individual is entrusted with the property, with instructions to transfer it to someone else or undertake a specific action regarding the property.

3. fidei commissum, in Roman law and civil-law systems, a gift of property to a person (usually by will), imposing upon that person the obligation to transfer it to a specified ultimate recipient, the latter being a person legally incapable of taking the property directly or at least not in the amount designated. It constituted a means of evading the inheritance requirements in Roman and civil law.

4. Law of Succession (civil law): fidei-commissum, fideicommissum.

  • … a testamentary disposition, by which a person who gave a thing to another imposed on him the obligation of transferring it to a third person (… Civil Law).

5. PAJLO; Law of Trusts (common law): trust.

  • French equivalent: fiducie.

Property Law (civil law); Law of Security: escrow fund.

  • French equivalent: fidéicommis.

6. Property Law (common law) and Phraseology:

  • in trust;
  • in trust for;
  • held in trust;
  • funds in trust.

7. Cultural Interrelation: We can mention a book Patrimony and Law in Renaissance Italy by Thomas Kuehn, specifically chapter 6, pp. 137 – 163.

  • 6 – Fideicommissum and Law. Consilia of Bartolomeo Sozzini and Filippo Decio. Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2022.

S: 1 & 2. MW (last access: 15 February 2026); OED (last access: 15 February 2026); JUSTIA (last access: 15 February 2026). 3. EncBrit (last access: 15 February 2026). 4 to 6. TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=FIDEICOMMIS&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs, https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=TRUST&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs, https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=fideicomiso&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 15 February 2026). 5. Camb Univ Press (last access: 15 February 2026).

OV: fidei commissum, fidei-commissum.

S: MW (last access: 15 February 2026); OED (last access: 15 February 2026); TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 15 February 2026).

SYN:
S:

CR: bare ownership, landlord, usufruct.