Definition
A Latin phrase meaning "he has made flight" or "he fled." In old English law, fugam fecit was a formal clause inserted in an inquisition — an official inquiry — recording that a person indicted for treason or felony had fled from justice. The finding carried immediate legal consequences: the accused forfeited his goods absolutely, and the profits of his lands were lost until he was either pardoned or acquitted. It was not a conviction but a procedural finding that triggered forfeiture as a consequence of flight itself.
Common Confusion
Fugam fecit is sometimes loosely associated with outlawry, but the two are distinct. Outlawry was a formal legal status placing a person outside the protection of the law, requiring additional process and declaration. Fugam fecit was a narrower evidentiary finding within an inquisition — a recorded fact of flight — that had its own forfeiture consequences without necessarily producing the full legal disabilities of outlawry. Researchers should not treat the two as synonymous when working through historical English records.
Why It Matters in Research
This term is essentially a relic of medieval and early modern English criminal and property law and will appear almost exclusively in historical sources: records of inquisitions, Year Books, plea rolls, and early English treatises. Researchers encounter it most often in the context of forfeiture doctrine, where the history of property loss as a consequence of flight from criminal process is traced. It will not appear in modern common law jurisdictions as an operative legal concept.
The key research trap is treating fugam fecit as a conviction or attainder equivalent. It was not. The finding did not establish guilt; it established flight. The forfeiture consequences were distinct from — and in some respects narrower than — those flowing from conviction or attainder. When working through historical forfeiture records, the distinction matters for understanding what property was lost, on what basis, and whether and how it could be recovered.
The term connects directly to broader research threads on the history of forfeiture in English law, the relationship between criminal procedure and property rights, and the development of inquisition practice. Burrill's reference to "fuga" as a related entry points to the broader conceptual cluster — flight (fuga) as a legal fact carrying property consequences was a well-developed doctrine in medieval English law, not merely an incidental procedural note.
Because the clause appeared in formal inquisition records rather than in judicial opinions in any modern sense, researchers working with original English legal records should recognize it as a term of art within the record itself, not as case law or statutory language.
Historical Dictionary Support
The four historical dictionary sources are in substantial agreement. Black's (both editions) and Burrill all identify fugam fecit as an old English law formula appearing in inquisitions, and all agree on the forfeiture consequences — absolute forfeiture of goods and loss of land profits until pardon or acquittal. The language across editions is nearly identical, suggesting later compilers drew directly from earlier sources rather than independently verifying the doctrine.
Burrill adds the most texture, citing Finch's Law and a Freeman's report, and connecting the entry to "fuga" as a companion concept. The reference to "a flying for fear of an offence" and "forfeiting the party's chattels" reflects the older common law understanding that flight itself was treated as quasi-evidence of guilt sufficient to justify immediate property consequences.
The Rapalje & Lawrence entry is fragmentary as transcribed, appearing to be a partial entry that cuts off. It confirms the translation but adds little doctrine. Researchers relying on Rapalje & Lawrence for this term should treat the entry as incomplete.
None of the historical dictionaries address the procedural mechanics of how a fugam fecit finding was challenged, reversed, or what "acquittal" meant in context — questions that would require primary source research into plea roll practice and inquisition procedure rather than dictionary sources.
Jurisdictional Note
Fugam fecit is an exclusively English legal concept with no direct parallel in American law. American forfeiture doctrine developed along different lines and did not import this particular procedural mechanism. Researchers should not expect to find the term operative in any American jurisdiction.