II.   Instruments & Transactions

A Testament is a formal auricular statement, given under Oath before two or more witnesses that the words expressed are true and usually then memorialized in writing.

The right to make a valid Testament is arguably one of the oldest legal principles of civilization:

(i) It has been proven conclusively that the practice and procedures of making a valid Testament originates to the very first surviving examples of written law and official documents, more than 6,000 years old; and

(ii) The ancient Greeks called a Testament a διαθήκη (diathēkē) which means literally"I speak over/across a (sacred) box, chest, tomb” and was pronounced before several ephetai (judges) and members of the dikastea (jurors) by the senior member of society and a record of their pronouncement was transcribed as a memorium; and

(iii) The Romans called a Testament a testamentum. Similar to all sophisticated ancient cultures, a valid Roman testament was auricular and had to be pronounced before no less than seven (7) witnesses, the nominated beneficiaries and a priest of an official temple.

Three key concepts appear to have always been present regarding a valid testament being Auricular, Witnessed, Memorialized:

(i) It was spoken to be valid (hence why it was called a testament); and

(ii) It was spoken before witnesses; and

(iii) The writing or recording of it was merely a memorial of the event and secondary, not primary.