Property or wealth held in trust by one person for another under Roman law, to be distributed according to specific instructions.
From Latin 'fideicommissum,' literally 'that which is committed in faith'—'fidei' (of faith/trust) and 'commissum' (entrusted). This was a crucial development in Roman property law.
The fideicommissum is where modern wills, trusts, and probate law all come from—it was Rome's genius solution to letting people control wealth distribution after death, and we still use the same basic idea 2,000 years later.
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