SUBSCRIPTIO - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

SUBSCRIPTIOAuthored

The Law Mind • 893 words

Definition

A Latin term from Roman civil law with two related but distinct meanings:

1. Subscription or underwriting. The act of writing one's name at the bottom or foot of a legal instrument as a form of attestation or ratification. The term captures both the physical act (writing beneath) and its legal significance (authenticating or confirming the document above). In this sense, subscriptio is the Roman-law antecedent of the modern concept of signature or subscription.

2. Imperial rescript by petition. A specific category of imperial constitution in Roman law, issued in response to a petition presented in person by the petitioner. The emperor — or, in practice, the imperial chancery — would write a response directly beneath the petitioner's submitted request, and this written response beneath the petition constituted the subscriptio. It was functionally a ruling or grant of legal authority, distinguished from other forms of imperial legislation by its reactive, petition-driven character and its application to specific individuals rather than general populations.

Common Confusion

Subscriptio is closely related to but distinct from two other forms of imperial rescript in Roman law. A rescriptum was the broader genus of written imperial responses; subscriptio was one species within that genus, specifically characterized by the physical act of writing beneath the original petition and by the presence of the petitioner. An epistola, by contrast, was an imperial response addressed by letter to a magistrate or official rather than written beneath a private party's petition. Researchers encountering these terms in Roman law sources should not treat them as interchangeable, as the distinctions carried procedural and substantive consequences under the civil law.

Recognized Forms

/SUBTYPES

Subscriptio testium. The subscription of witnesses — the act of witnesses writing their names at the foot of a will or other testamentary instrument. Under the imperial constitutions, subscriptio testium was a required formality in the execution of wills, imposed in addition to the affixing of seals. The Institutes of Justinian reference this requirement. It represents the application of the general concept of subscriptio to a specific and highly consequential procedural context: testamentary execution.

Why It Matters in Research

Researchers will encounter subscriptio primarily in three contexts: (1) Roman law and civil law scholarship treating the sources of imperial legislation, (2) historical discussions of testamentary formalities tracing the ancestry of modern signature and attestation requirements, and (3) canon law sources that borrowed extensively from Roman administrative and procedural forms.

The most important navigational point is the term's dual function. In a treatise or source discussing imperial rescripts and constitutional history, subscriptio refers to the petition-response form of imperial legislation. In a source discussing wills, attestation, or instrument execution, subscriptio almost certainly refers to the written signature or name-at-the-bottom formality. Context is essential.

Researchers working in comparative law or civil law jurisdictions should note that the subscriptio testium tradition directly informs later civilian requirements for witness attestation in wills — requirements that diverged significantly from common law formalities. The Roman insistence on subscriptio as a named and written act, rather than merely a sealed act, is an early marker of the distinction between civil law's preference for written formality and common law's historical reliance on sealing.

In historical English sources, the term may appear in discussions contrasting English practice with continental or Roman forms. These references are typically descriptive and comparative rather than operative — subscriptio was not a term of art in English common law, but it appeared in legal scholarship, ecclesiastical law contexts, and treatises engaging with Roman sources.

Historical Dictionary Support

The four source dictionaries agree closely on the core definition. All four treat subscriptio as meaning both (a) a writing of the name at the foot of an instrument by way of attestation or ratification, and (b) the specific imperial constitutional form granted in answer to a present petitioner's prayer. There is no meaningful divergence among the sources on these points.

Burrill's Law Dictionary adds the most substantive detail by explicitly referencing the Institutes of Justinian as authority for the subscriptio testium requirement in will execution — that witness subscription was required by the imperial constitutions in addition to seals. This grounding in the Institutes is useful for researchers who need to trace the doctrine to primary Roman sources. Black's (both editions) and Bouvier follow the same essential formulation, drawing on Calvinus (Johannes Calvinus, Lexicon Juridicum, a standard civil law dictionary reference) for the imperial constitution definition.

What the historical dictionaries do not address is the relationship between subscriptio and the broader taxonomy of imperial rescripts — that analytical framework must be sourced elsewhere, in Roman law scholarship and the primary texts of the Corpus Juris Civilis. The dictionary entries treat subscriptio as a relatively self-contained term rather than situating it within the rescript system as a whole.

Jurisdictional Note

Subscriptio as an operative legal concept is confined to Roman law, civil law systems, and historical canon law. It does not function as a term of art in any common law jurisdiction. Researchers in Louisiana, Quebec, or other mixed jurisdictions may encounter it in historical sources or comparative analysis, but modern civil codes in those jurisdictions use their own terminology for signature and attestation formalities.

SUBSCRIPTIOmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

Lat. In the civil law. A writing under, or under-writing; a writ ing of the name under or at the bottom of an instrument by way of attestation or ratifica- tion; subscription. That kind of imperial constitution which was granted in answer to the prayer of a pe- titioner who was present. Calvin.

SUBSCRIPTIOmain

Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910

Lat. In the civil law. A writing under, or under-writing; a writing of the name under or at the bottom of an instrument by way of attestation or ratification; subscription. That kind of imperial constitution: which was granted in answer to the prayer of a petitioner who was present. Calvin.

SUBSCRIPTIOmain

Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

That kind of impe- rial constitution which was granted in answer to the prayer of a petitioner who was present. Calvinus. A writing under, or under-writing; a writ- ing of the name under or at the bottom of an instrument by way of attestation or ratifi- cation; subscription. The subscriptio testium, (subscription of witnesses), was one of the formalities in the execution of wills, being required by the imperial constitutions in addition to the seals of the witnesses. Bur- rill; Inst. 2. 10. 3. SUBSCRIPTION (Lat. sub, under, scribo, to write). The placing a signature at the bottom of a written or printed en- gagement; or it is the attestation of a wit- ness by so writing his name; but it has been holden that the attestation of an il- literate witness by making his mark is a sufficient subscription. 2 Ves. Sen. 454; 3 P. Wms. 253. The act by which a person makes an agreement over his signature in writing, to furnish a sum of money for a particular purpose; as, a subscription to a charitable institution, a subscription for a book, for a newspaper, and the like. One. who subscribes, agreeably to the statute and by-laws of a chartered com- pany, acquires a right to his shares, which is a sufficient consideration to make the subscription obligatory on him; but other- wise where the organization was not yet effected; 87 Pa. 332; 90 id. 169. A sub- scription for the payment of certain sums of money to a contemplated corporation, to be formed for a purpose for which the subscribers were to derive benefits, may be enforced by the corporation when formed; and no formal acceptance of the subscrip- tion or notice of such acceptance is neces- sary to make it binding; 140 111. 248. The question, how far voluntary subscriptions for charitable objects are binding, is not thoroughly settled. A subscription of a certain sum towards paying off a church debt made long after the debt was contracted and the church built, is without consideration and cannot be enforced; 17 C. C. R. (Pa.) 614. A mere subscription for a charitable object cannot be enforced; 112 N. Y. 517; 117 id. 601; 11 Mass. 118; 121 id. 528; 93 111. 475; 57 Ia. 307. A gratuitous subscription to promote the object for which a corporation is es- tablished, cannot be enforced unless the promisee has, in reliance on the promise sued on, done something or incurred or as- sumed some liability or obligation; it is not sufficient that others were led to sub- scribe by the subscription sought to be en- forced; 121 Mass. 528; 117 N. Y. 601; 57 Ia. 307. The consideration which supports the promise of a subscriber to an enter- prise is expenditure by the promisee on the faith of the subscription and not ad- vantage to be gained by the promisor; 41 Ill. App. 259; 57 Ia. 807; 69 id. 134. See 41 Ohio St. 527. Until liability has been incurred or acts have been done on the strength of the subscription, it may be withdrawn, and it is revoked by the insan- ity or death of the subscriber; 96 III. 177; 93 id. 475; 77 Pa. 328. It has been held that the subscription, to be binding, should be a promise to some particular person or committee; and there should be an agreement on the part of such person or committee to do something on their part: as, to provide materials or erect a building: 11 Mass. 114; 24 VL. 189;9 Barb. 202; 9 Gratt. 683; 4 Me. 382; 1 N. Y. 581. If advances were fairly authorized, and have been made on the strength of the sub- scriptions, it will be deemed sufficient to make them obligatory; 12 Mass. 190; 14 id. 172; 1 Metc. Mass. 570; 5 Pick. 228; 19 id. 73; 4 III. 198; 2 Humph. 335; 2 Vt. 48; 5 Ohio 58; they form a consideration for each other; 37 Pa. 210. The subscriptions to a common object are not usually mutual or really concurrent, and can only be held binding on grounds of public policy. See 4 N. H. 533; 6 id. 164; 7 id. 435; 5 Pick. 506; 2 Vt. 48; 9 id. 289; 5 Ohio 58. Payment by a subscriber of a part of his subscription which was not legally en- forcible does not make the residue of the subscription valid; 112 N. Y. 517. See ATTESTATION AND SUBSCRIPTION ;

Explore the full Law Mind legal research platform.

Subscribe Encyclopedia Sign In