Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/638

* FIDEICOMMISSUM. 582 FIELD. the heir should be freed upon taking oath that he had received no such charge. Fideicomntissa were introduced and developed to accomplish ends that could not be accomplished at the Ro- man law by testament. By a trust of this sort it was possible, for example, to leave the owner- ship of an entire estate or of a particular piece of property to one person for a definite term or for life, or subject to a condition subsequent, and then to another person (substitutio ftdeicommis- saria). Arrangements of this character are per- mitted, with limitations, in the Spanish civil code (sees. 7S1-786), and in the French civil code 3. 1048-1074). In the German Imperial Code the same result is reached through what is termed post-inheritance (nacherbschaft) . In German law fideicommiss has become the tech- nical term for an estate permanently entailed. Consult the authorities referred to in the article Civil Law. FIDEI DEFEN'SOR. See Defender of the Faith. FIDE'LE. The assumed name of the dis- guised Imogen in Shakespeare's Cymbeline. FIDELIO, fe-da'lyo. Beethoven's only opera (1805). The name is assumed by Leonora, wife of Fernando Florestan. who in male attire be- comes an attendant in the jail where her hus- band is confined. The opera was to have been called Leonore.' and the 'Leonora overtures' were written for Fidelio. FIDE'N^;. An old and important city situ- ated on a hill I now Castel Giubileo) on the south bank of the Tiber, about five miles above Rome, and supposed to have been founded by the Etruscans. It is said that no other city played so important a part in the history of early Rome as did this city. As early as the days of Romulus ill-will, with frequent strife, existed between the two cities, and continued, with short intervals of peace, until B.C. 406, when the Fi- denates were forced to surrender. In B.C. 438 they revolted again, killing the Roman ambassa- dor, and they were not subjugated until B.C. 426, when their city was taken, and they were sold into slavery. During the Republic and the Em- pire it was only a small country village, re- markable chiefly for a terrible calamity which occurred during the reign of Tiberius, when about 50.000 persons were killed by the fall of an amphitheatre during a gladiatorial contest. No ruins of Fidense exist, beyond a few rock-cut tomba and drains. Consult Dennis. Cities and Corne- al Etruria, vol. i. i London, 1883). FIDES'SA. The nan. i' taken by Duessa to en- snare the Red-Cross Knight in Spenser's Faerie Qui ■ FIDUCIARY (Lat. fiduciarius, relating to a trust, from fiducia, trust, from fidere, to tnist). A legal term designating a person in whom iliar frusf and confidence are reposed by an- i or the relation which subsists between such persons; oi a liability incurred by one of these persons toward the other. The most im- portant examples Of fiduciary relations are fliose of parent and child, of guardian and ward, of lawyer and client, of physician and patient, of trustee and qui trust, of principal ami I principal and surety, and oi partners. When the relationship does r M the rule obtains that the fiduciary — the per- son in whom a special confidence anil trust is reposed — is bound to act toward the other party to the relation with the utmost good faith. If he receives a gift from the other, or enters into a contract with him, and its validity is challenged, the burden of proof is upon him to show that he took no advantage of his influence or knowledge, but, on the contra rv, that the other acted with perfect freedom as veil as with full knowledge of all the facts relating to the transaction. Indeed, in England a much stricter rule than this is applied to gifts from clients to legal advisers made during the con- tinuance of the relationship; they may be set aside upon the application of the client or his personal representatives. In other words, the presumption of undue influence in such a case is conclusive. A trustee or an agent, charged with the sale of property belonging to his cestui que trust, or his principal, is not allowed to be- come the purchaser or to make any secret profit out of the sale. The term 'fiduciary capacity' in the United States bankruptcy statutes has received a narrow construction. By these statutes debts contracted 'in any fiduciary capacity' are excluded from the operation of a discharge in bankruptcy. It has been ruled by the United States Supreme Court that the term in this connection includes only debts contracted by technical trustees — that is, trustees appointed by will or by deed or by order of a court, and does not extend to debts owing by agents or attorneys to their principals. Consult: Bigelow, Elements of Equity, for the Use of Students (Boston, 1879) ; Lowell, The Law of Bankruptcy (Boston. 1899); and .the authorities referred to under such titles as Agent; etc. FIDUS ACHATES, fl'dus a-ka'tez. See Achates. FIEBRES, fyal.ras (Sp., fevers). A name given to the Liberal Party in some countries of Central America. FIEF. The name by which an estate held under the feudal system by noble tenure was des- ignated. Originally it was held only during the lifetime of either party to the contract, but gradu- ally it became hereditary, and by the tenth cen- tury the evolution was complete. It was formerly wrongly supposed that the change was brought about by the edict of Kiersy (q.v.). The legal name for fief was 'benefice' ( beneficium ), and the holder was the '"beneficiary.' The unit fief was the knight's fee, which was required in Eng- land to furnish one armed knight for forty days per year for the army. See Feudalism. FIELD (AS., OlIG. feld, Oer. Weld, field: con- nected with AS. folde, leel. fold, soil, and ulti- mately with Gk. jrXaTifc, platys, l.ith. platus, Skt. prthu, broad, and with OHG. flaz, leel. flatr, Eng. flat). In heraldry (q.v.), the whole surface of I he escutcheon. FIELD, Inspector. A head detective of the London police, in Dickens's tin Duty with In- spector Field. The character had its prototype in real life. FIELD, cm: i West (1819-92). An Ameri- can financier, the projector and promoter of first submarine telegraph cable between Europe and ineriea. luirn at Stockbridge, Mass. He was