Domicilium
A term of Roman law, signifying a man's permanent home. The following is the well-known
definition of
domicilium given in the
Corpus Iuris
(
Cod. x. 40, 7): “In eo loco singulos habere domicilium non
ambigitur, ubi quis larem rerumque ac fortunarum suarum summam constituit, unde rursus non sit
discessurus, si nihil avocet, unde cum profectus est peregrinari videtur, quo si rediit
peregrinari iam destitit.” In a passage of the
Digest a man's home is
thus defined (
Dig. 1.16, 203): “Sed de ea re constitutum esse
(respondit) eam domum unicuique nostrum debere existimari, ubi quisque
sedes et tabulas haberet suarumque rerum constitutionem fecisset.” A man acquired
domicilium by making a place his residence and intending to remain in it permanently (
animus manendi). Domicilium was lost by abandonment, and the question of the
existence of domicile was treated as one of fact to be determined by the circumstances of each
case.
The conception of domicile has far more important consequences in modern systems of law than
in ancient; it is the foundation of a branch of what is sometimes called private international
law, but more correctly the conflict of laws.
