Meanings
- The legal capacity to participate in a testamentum (will), be it as a testator, a heres (heir), or a signator (witness).
- RomanuncountablelawThe legal capacity to compose a testamentum as a testator, available to any Roman citizen sui juris who had attained puberty (i.e. males of fourteen years or older and females of twelve years or older).
Synonyms: testamenti factio activa
- RomanuncountablelawThe legal capacity to receive a legatum (bequest) as a heres, unavailable to unenlisted peregrini (foreigners and Roman free provincial subjects) or, following the Lex Junia Norbana of AD 19, to Latini Juniani (freedmen whose manumissions had failed to satisfy the conditions of the Lex Aelia Sentia of AD 4).
It is clear as has been said above, that the primary purpose of fideicommissa was the making of gifts by will to persons who had not testamenti factio with the testator.
1912, William Warwick Buckland, Elementary Principles of the Roman Private Law, Cambridge: at the University Press, § 81: “Fideicommissa”, page 174Synonyms: testamenti factio passiva
- RomanuncountablelawThe legal capacity to witness a testamentum as a signator, unavailable to women.
- uncountableScots lawThe legal capacity to make a will (under Scots law, anyone may be a beneficiary under a testator’s settlement).
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe legal capacity to compose a testamentum as a testator, available to any Roman citizen sui juris who had attained puberty (i.e. males of fourteen years or older and females of twelve years or older).
nounThe legal capacity to receive a legatum (bequest) as a heres, unavailable to unenlisted peregrini (foreigners and Roman free provincial subjects) or, following the Lex Junia Norbana of AD 19, to Latini Juniani (freedmen whose manumissions had failed to satisfy the conditions of the Lex Aelia Sentia of AD 4).
Origin
- Latintestāmentī factiō“right of participating in a will”
- Englishtestamenti factio
From Latin testāmentī factiō (“right of participating in a will”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
testamenti factio. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/testamenti%20factio
“testamenti factio.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/testamenti%20factio. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “testamenti factio,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/testamenti%20factio.
Source: testamenti factio on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.