Fiction

Fiction. Fictions are 'those things that have no real essence in their own body but are so accepted in law for a special purpose.' 'Fictio' in old Roman law was properly a term of pleading, and signified a false averment on the part of the plaintiff which the defendant was not allowed to traverse; e.g., an averment that the plaintiff was a Roman citizen, when in truth he was a foreigner, the object of these 'fictiones' being of course to give jurisdiction; see Maine's Anc. Law, ch. II.

The English law has always abounded in fictions, and thre is a maxim that in fictione juris semper 'quitas existit. See, e.g., EJECTMENT; FINE; FRACTION OF A DAY; LATITAT; QUOMINUS; TROVER.