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-commissa 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.