FACTUM

By SovConn | May 12, 2015

factum (fak-t<<schwa>>m), n.[Latin] 1. A fact, such as a person’s physical presence in a new

domicile. 2. An act or deed, such as the due execution of a will. • Over time, factum in this sense

came to mean “charter” — that is, the act or deed of conveying land, reduced to written form. See

fraud in the factum under FRAUD.

“[I]t is only a short step to holding as a matter of law that a ‘deed’ — and by a deed (fet,

factum) men are beginning to mean a sealed piece of parchment — has an operative force of its

own which intentions expressed, never so plainly, in other ways have not. The sealing and

delivering of the parchment is the contractual act. Further, what is done by ‘deed’ can only be

undone by ‘deed.’ ” 2 Frederick Pollock & Frederic W. Maitland, The History of English Law

Before the Time of Edward I 220 (2d ed. 1899).

factum imprestabile (fak-t<<schwa>>m im-pres-tay-b<<schwa>>-lee). [Law Latin] Hist. An

act that cannot be performed; an impossibility.

factum juridicum (fak-t<<schwa>>m juu-rid-i-k<<schwa>>m). [Latin] A juridical fact.

factum probandum (fak-t<<schwa>>m pr<<schwa>>-ban-d<<schwa>>m). [Latin] A fact to

be proved.

“Evidence is always a relative term. It signifies a relation between two facts, the factum

probandum, or proposition to be established, and the factum probans, or material evidencing the

proposition. The former is necessarily to be conceived of as hypothetical; it is that which the one

party affirms and the other denies, the tribunal being as yet not committed in either direction. The

latter is conceived of for practical purposes as existent and is offered as such for the consideration

of the tribunal. The latter is brought forward as a reality for the purpose of convincing the tribunal

that the former is also a reality.” John Henry Wigmore, Evidence in Trials at Common Law§ 2, at

14–15 (Peter Tillers ed., 1983). factum probans (fak-t<<schwa>>m proh-banz). [Latin] A probative or evidentiary fact; a

subsidiary fact tending to prove a principal fact in issue.

factum proprium et recens (fak-t<<schwa>>m proh-pree-<<schwa>>m et ree-senz). [Law

Latin] Hist. One’s own act recently performed.