FISC, (Fiscus), in the Civil Law, the treasury of a
prince or state; or that to which all things due to the
public do fall. The word is derived from the Greek
Φίσκος, "a great basket," used when they went to mar-
ket.—By the civil law, none but a sovereign prince has
a right to have a fisc or public treasury.
At Rome, under the emperors, the term ararium
was used for the revenues destined for support of the
charges of the empire; the fiscus for those of the em-
peror's own family. The treasury, in effect, belonged
to the people, and the fiscus to the prince. Hence the
goods of condemned persons, if appropriated to the
use of the public, were said publicari; if to the support
of the emperor or prince, confiscari.