Legal Definitions - gestum

In Roman law, gestum refers to an act, a deed, or a thing that has been done. It emphasizes a completed action or a specific conduct that carries legal significance.

• Imagine a Roman citizen, Marcus, publicly declaring his intention to donate a sum of money to the city for the construction of a new public bathhouse. Following this declaration, he transfers the funds to the city treasury. The act of publicly declaring his intention and subsequently transferring the money constitutes a gestum. It is a concrete, completed action with a clear legal and social impact.

• Consider a situation where a Roman official, acting within their authority, issues an edict (a public proclamation or order) regarding the regulation of market prices for essential goods. The very act of drafting, publishing, and enforcing this edict is a gestum. It represents an official deed or action performed by a person in a position of power, intended to have legal effect on the populace.

• Suppose a Roman landowner, after a dispute with a neighbor over a boundary line, physically erects a new fence along what they believe to be the correct property division. This physical act of building the fence, intended to assert a property right, is a gestum. It is a tangible "thing done" that could become evidence in a legal proceeding concerning the land boundary.