Mancipatory Will

In Clvij Law. A form of testamentary disposition of property. “The testator, la the presence of five witnesses and a Ubripena, manclpates (i. e. sells) his estate (familia pecuniaque) to a third party, the so-called families emtor, with a view to Imposing upon the latter. In solemn terms (nuncupatio), the duty of carrying out hls last wishes as contained and expressed In the tabulcB testamenti. The object of the transaction Is to make the families emtor not the material, but only the formal owner of the estate. Hls actual duties consist In the carrying out of the testator’s intentions and the handing over of the property to the persons named In the tabulas teatamenti, the families emtor is neither more nor less than the executor of the testator.” Sohm, Rom. L. 450. This Is said by the same author to be the oldest form of the Roman contract of mandatum "a juristic act validly concluded, not Indeed consensu, but re (viz. by a formal conveyance of ownership), and a juristic act giving rise to a rigorously binding obligation. The mandatum and the conveyance of ownership are not mutually Incompatible. The families emtor Is the mandatory of the testator, because he Is, formally speaking, the owner of the familia.” Sohm, Rom. L. 461.