Nuncupatio
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Publication · nuncupatio · nuncupation
in the texts
Institutes of Roman Law
The oral declaration by which a testator publicly names and confirms the dispositions of his will.
et hoc dicitur nuncupatio:
’ These words are called the nuncupation, for nuncupation signifies public declaration, and by these general words the specific written dispositions of the testator are published and confirmed.
Hence a special lex curiata for this purpose was no longer necessary, and the familiae emptor, instead of being a kind of trustee for carrying out the testator’s wishes, became a mere formality, used simply for the purpose of making the will mancipatory.
Ancient Law
The formal oral or written declaration of a Testator's wishes constituting the substantive part of a Roman Will.
As soon as it was legalised, a Roman Testament came to consist of two parts or stages,—a Conveyance, which was a pure form, and a Nuncupatio, or Publication.
The Emptor familiæ simulated the payment of a price by striking the scales with a piece of money, and finally the Testator ratified what had been done in a set form of words called the “Nuncupatio” or publication of the transaction, a phrase which, I need scarcely remind the lawyer, has had a long history in Testamentary jurisprudence.