factum

Factum is a Latin noun meaning “a fact; something done” and is the neuter form of the participle factus of the verb facere, “to make or do.” In English, the term is used mainly in legal and scholarly contexts rather than in everyday speech. In law, a factum is a written statement that sets out the facts of a case as understood by the party filing it, followed by legal arguments and citations. It serves as a concise memorandum or brief for appellate courts, often submitted by a party to an appeal or by an amicus curiae. Factums are typically governed by court rules on format, length, and references, and may accompany or substitute for oral submissions in an appeal.

In addition to its legal usage, factum appears in classical and scholarly Latin where it denotes an act or deed, or more generally a fact. In historical and philosophical writing, the term can refer to an actual event or performed action, as opposed to hypothesis or conjecture. The plural form in Latin is facta. The phrase facta non verba, meaning deeds not words, is a common Latin expression encountered in various contexts.

Today the term is most often encountered in legal contexts in English-language jurisdictions that use Latin terminology for procedural documents. Outside law, factum remains primarily of historical or linguistic interest as a classical Latin word describing action, event, or accomplishment.