traditum

Traditum is a Latin term used in civil-law discourse to denote the thing that has been handed over in the transfer of property. Derived from tradere, meaning to hand over or entrust, traditum functions as the delivered object that effects the transmission of ownership or possession through the act of traditio.

In classical Roman law, traditio is the act by which a party transfers ownership by delivering the thing or delivering a substitute that represents the thing. The traditum might be a corporeal object or a symbolic item such as a document; delivery, accompanied by intent to transfer, completes the transfer of title. The precise requirements varied by period and jurisdiction, but the core idea was that ownership passes only through a manifestation of delivery.

In contemporary civil-law systems, traditio remains central to many transfers of immovable and movable property. Some systems require actual delivery of the object; others accept substitutes such as delivery of possession or delivery of title documents or a notarial act that has the same effect. The concept also appears in lease, gift, and pledge arrangements, where the traditum is the thing delivered or placed under the transferee's control.

See also Traditio, possession, civil law, property transfer.