Definition
*Functi* (Latin: "to collect the goods of the deceased") is a term appearing in the phrase *ad colligendum bona defuncti* — "to collect the goods of the deceased" — and is used as shorthand to describe the special, limited letters of administration granted to one or more persons for the sole purpose of collecting and preserving a decedent's goods pending the appointment of a general administrator. The authority conferred is narrow: the collector appointed under such letters may gather and safeguard estate assets but does not hold the full powers of a general administrator.
The term appears in historical legal sources almost exclusively as part of the fuller Latin phrase *ad colligendum bona defuncti*, and in practice it identifies both the instrument (letters *ad colligendum*) and the function it authorizes.
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Common Confusion
*Functi* should not be confused with general letters of administration, which confer broad authority to administer the entire estate, pay debts, and distribute assets. Letters *ad colligendum* (the instrument with which *functi* is associated) are strictly temporary and limited in scope — the collector they create has no authority to pay creditors, make distributions, or act as a full legal representative of the estate. Researchers encountering *functi* in historical probate records should take care not to treat the appointed collector as equivalent to an executor or general administrator.
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Why It Matters in Research
This term appears almost exclusively in historical probate and ecclesiastical court records, as well as in treatises on the law of administration of estates predating modern probate codes. Researchers working in those sources — particularly English common law materials, early American probate records, and nineteenth-century equity practice — will encounter it embedded in Latin administrative formulae.
Two research traps are worth flagging. First, *functi* standing alone is an incomplete term; its legal meaning is inseparable from the full phrase *ad colligendum bona defuncti*, and sources that abbreviate or fragment the phrase may be difficult to parse without knowing that *functi* anchors the concept of deceased-person's goods. Second, the office of "collector" created by these letters was a recognized but transitional role — it was not a permanent appointment and carried no ongoing fiduciary authority beyond collection and preservation. Probate records identifying someone as a "collector" under letters *ad colligendum* should not be read as evidence of full administration authority.
The New York Revised Statutes reference in Burrill — locating this practice in early American statutory law — signals that the concept was received into American probate procedure, though modern probate codes have replaced the Latin nomenclature entirely with statutory provisions for special or temporary administration.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary and Burrill's Law Dictionary are in complete agreement on the substance: both define *functi* by reference to its role in letters of administration, both cite Blackstone's *Commentaries* (2 Bl. Comm. 505) and Stephen's *Commentaries* (2 H. Steph. Comm. 241 / 2 Steph. Com. 241) as the underlying authority, and both note the equivalence between letters *functi* and letters *ad colligendum*.
Burrill adds the New York statutory citation (2 N.Y. Rev. St. [76], §§ 38, 39), grounding the concept in early American positive law and demonstrating that the practice survived the colonial period in adapted statutory form. Black's adds a passing reference to Lord Kenyon in a criminal law context (7 Term 514; Broom, M.) that appears incidental to the main definition and may reflect a printing artifact or cross-reference bleed from an adjacent entry — researchers should not treat that fragment as directly bearing on the meaning of *functi*.
Neither dictionary addresses how this form of administration was superseded by modern probate legislation, a gap that matters for researchers tracing the evolution of special administration from its ecclesiastical-court origins through nineteenth-century American statutory reform to contemporary probate codes.
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Jurisdictional Note
The concept originates in English ecclesiastical court practice and was received into American law, with some states codifying the collector role by statute in the nineteenth century. Modern American jurisdictions have replaced this Latin terminology with statutory provisions for "special administration" or "temporary administration," but the underlying function — preserving assets before a general administrator is appointed — survives in all common-law jurisdictions.
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