Definition
Jus futurum (Latin: "future right") is a civil law concept referring to a right that has not yet fully vested — one that exists in an inchoate, incipient, or expectant state. The right is recognized as having legal significance, but something further must occur before it ripens into a complete, enforceable entitlement.
The concept divides into two recognized forms based on what conditions remain outstanding:
1. Jus delatum: A future right whose vesting depends solely on the will of the person in whom it is to vest. The right is essentially ready to be acquired — only the beneficiary's acceptance or election stands between expectancy and full ownership. An heir who has not yet formally accepted an inheritance holds something in the nature of jus delatum.
2. Jus nondum delatum: A future right whose vesting depends on the future occurrence of circumstances or conditions beyond the beneficiary's control. The right cannot ripen until external events — the happening of a condition precedent, the expiration of a term, or some other contingency — take place.
The distinction matters because jus delatum is closer to a present right in practical terms: the holder can act to complete vesting. Jus nondum delatum is more genuinely contingent, and its protection in law correspondingly weaker.
Common Confusion
Jus futurum is frequently encountered alongside jus quaesitum (a right already acquired) and spes (a mere hope or expectation). The three are not interchangeable. Spes carries no legal recognition — it is a hope that something might become a right, not an incipient right itself. Jus futurum occupies the middle ground: more than a bare hope, less than a vested right. Jus quaesitum is fully vested and immediately enforceable. Researchers encountering these terms in civil law sources should map carefully where on this spectrum the writer places the interest at issue.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
Jus delatum — The future right is ripe for acquisition; vesting awaits only the act or election of the prospective holder.
Jus nondum delatum — The future right remains contingent on external circumstances or conditions not yet fulfilled; the holder cannot complete vesting through will alone.
Why It Matters in Research
Jus futurum is a term of Roman and civil law provenance. Researchers working in common law sources will rarely encounter it as operative doctrine, but it appears frequently in treatises, equity proceedings, and succession materials — particularly in contexts involving inheritance, future interests, and conditional transfers — where authors drew on civilian learning to explain the legal status of expectant interests.
The practical research trap is conflation with the common law vocabulary of future interests. Terms like contingent remainder, executory interest, and vested remainder in interest all describe analogous positions, but they operate within a different technical framework. A 19th-century treatise writer using jus futurum may be translating a civil law concept into a common law discussion, or may be working within a mixed jurisdiction (Louisiana, Quebec, South Africa, Scotland) where the civilian terminology is operative rather than merely illustrative.
Historical sources vary in how carefully they maintain the jus delatum / jus nondum delatum distinction. Some treatise writers collapse the two; others use jus futurum as a general label without specifying the subtype. When precision matters — as in succession disputes or conditional gift analysis — the researcher should not assume the historical author is using the term with full technical rigor.
The Mackeldey citation in Black's (Ferdinand Mackeldey, Handbook of the Roman Law) is the anchor source for this concept as it appears in 19th-century American legal writing. Researchers tracing the concept into primary civil law sources should work through Mackeldey's treatment and its antecedents in the Digest and Institutes.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) provides the core definition and the jus delatum / jus nondum delatum distinction, sourced directly to Mackeldey's Roman Law. This is the primary appearance of the term in the Law Mind historical dictionary corpus at this edition level.
The entry is compact but accurate. What it does not address is the downstream question of how jus futurum interests were protected — Roman law offered actiones and praetorian remedies for certain expectant rights, a dimension important for understanding why the distinction between the two subtypes had practical consequences beyond mere classification. Researchers working in equity jurisprudence will find that English and American equity courts developed analogous protections for expectant interests without consistently adopting the Roman terminology.
No significant divergence exists within the historical dictionary record for this term, as corpus coverage at this entry is limited to Black's 2nd Ed. The definition it provides is consistent with the Mackeldey source it cites.
Jurisdictional Note
Jus futurum as operative terminology is most relevant in mixed civil/common law jurisdictions — Louisiana, Quebec, Scotland, and South African law — where Roman law concepts retain doctrinal force. In common law jurisdictions, the concept is primarily encountered in historical and comparative sources rather than in courts or statutes.