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Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

Quick lookup for English, Urdu, and Latin legal terms used in Pakistani jurisprudence.

Festuca

Hist. A rod, staff, or stick used as a pledge (or gage) of good faith by a party to a contract or as a token of conveyance of land. - Also termed fistuca. See LIVERY of SEISIN. "The wed or gage, however, was capable of becoming a symbol; an object which intrinsically was of trifling value might be given and might serve to bind a contract. Among the Franks, whom we must regard as being for many purposes our ancestors in law, it took the shape of the festuca. Whether this transition from the real' to the formal' can be accomplished without the intervention of sacral ceremonies seems doubtful. There are some who regard the festuca as a stout staff which has taken the place of a spear and is a symbol of physical power.

exfestucare

vb. [Latin] Hist. To abdicate or resign; to surrender (an estate, office, or dignity) by the symbolic delivery of a staff or rod (festuca) to the transferee.