Testis in United Kingdom

Meaning of Testis (Latin Term)

The following is an old definition of Testis (latin term) [1]: A witness. Testari: to be a witness, bear witness to; to be witnessed, shown, certified. Derivatives: attest, contest, protest, testify, testimony, testacy, testator, testament, intestate. Nemo testis esse debet in propria sua causa. No one should be a witness in his own cause. One cannot testify in his own behalf. This common-law rule has been very generally abrogated. See further Witness.Test’. An abbreviation of testis, a witness, or of teste, being a witness. The attestation of the foreman of a grand jury that a bill has been found or ignored may be certified in Pennsylvania in the words ” test, pro reipublicce, A B .” Testamentum. A will of personalty; a will of any species of property. Cum testamento annexo. With the will annexed – to letters of administration, see, in this resource, the term Ex testamento. From a will; under a will; by force or virtue of a will. Opposed, ab intestato: from an intestate. Expressions used to indicate the origin of property. Omne testamentum consummatum morte est. Every will is perfected by the death: a will is of no efifect till after the death of the maker – up to the last moment of life is ambulatory, see, in this resource, the term Testamentum inofficiosum. An undutiful will; a will made in disregard of the obligations of nature or parentage. The Romans set aside testaments as inofflciosa. that is, deficient in natural duty, if they disinherited ” children” without assigning sufficient reason. But if a child received any legacy, though ever so small, it was proof that the testator had not lost his memory or reason, which, otherwise, the law presumed, and no contest of the will was allowed. From this has arisen the groundless notion that to disinherit an heir he must be left a shilling or some other express legacy. ” Children ” meant natural and domestic heirs. They were non-disinheritable because considered as having a property in the father’s effects, and as entitled to the management of his estate. An action, called querela inofficiosi testamenti, was introduced to rescind any such will, made without just cause. But the parent, by charging his estate with debts, could render succession unprofitable. Testandi. See Animus. Testatum. It is witnessed, or testified. At common law, when a defendant who was to be arrested on a capias could not be found within the sheriff’s bailiwick the writ was returned, and another writ, called the testatum capias, was directed to the sheriff of the county where the defendant was supposed to be, reciting the former writ, and that ” ‘ it is testified ‘ that the defendant lurks in your bailiwick,” and then commanded that he be taken, as in the case of the former capias. At present, when the action is brought in one county and the defendant lives in another, to save trouble, time, and expense it is usual to make out a testatum at first, supposing a former writ to have been granted. A testatum execution is a writ of execution (either a fieri facias or a capias ad respondendum) issued into another county than that in which the record remains, to secure satisfaction out of the property there. The writ formerly concluded with the words ” Wherefore, on behalf of the plaintiff, ‘ it is testified ‘ in our said court that the defendant has goods, etc., within your bailiwick.” In England, since 1852, the testatum clause in the second writ (now the only writ issued) is omitted. Teste. Being witness; witnessed by. The date of the issue of a writ. Originally, the initial word of the last clause of writs, when expressed in Latin, setting forth that each particular writ was issued by authority of the official whose signature was affixed – the sovereign or the chief justice of the court. The corresponding clause in a writ is now called the teste, and the writ itself is said to be “tested.” Writs and processes issuing from the Supreme or a circuit court shall bear teste of the Chief Justice, or, if that oiBce be vacant, of the associate justice next in precedence. Writs and processes issuing from a district court shall bear teste of the judge, or, if the oflce be vacant, of the clerk thereof. Testes. Witnesses. Trial per testes, by witnesses, described (1) the action of an executor in producing the witnesses to a contested will in court, and there proving the execution of the instrument; (2) a trial without the intervention of a jury, by testimony presented to a judge, as opposed to a trial by combat, ordeal, or the oath of parties alone. Testimonium. Witnessing; attestation. The testimonium clause of an instrument is the clause at the end beginning ” In witness whereof.”

Resources

Notes and References

1. Concept of Testis (latin term) provided by the Anderson Dictionary of Law (1889) (Dictionary of Law consisting of Judicial Definitions and Explanations of Words, Phrases and Maxims and an Exposition of the Principles of Law: Comprising a Dictionary and Compendium of American and English Jurisprudence; William C. Anderson; T. H. Flood and Company, Law Publishers, Chicago, United States)