(Lat. *fiscus*), in *Civil Law*, the treasury or revenue of a state. Fiscus in its primary sense denoted a basket or hamper used by the Romans for holding large sums of money, and hence was applied to a money-chest or a purse. Under the emperors the term fiscus came to be applied to the imperial revenue or privy purse, in contradistinction to the *ararium* or public treasury. Ultimately, when the emperors had concentrated in themselves the whole sovereign power, the word fiscus lost its distinctive character, and was used in the same sense as ararium under the republic. Various officers were employed in the administration of the fiscus: as procuratores, advocati, patroni, and prefecti. From fisc is derived the word confiscation, which signifies to take the goods of a condemned person and appropriate them to the public treasury.