An idiot or fool. Bract. fol. 420b.
Foolish; absurd; indiscreet; or ill considered. Fatuum judicium, a foolish judgment or verdict. Applied to the verdict of a jury which, though false, was not criminally so, or did not amount to perjury. Bract fol. 289.
Fatuus, upud juriconsultos nostros, accipitur pro non compos mentis; et fatuus dicitur, qui omnino desipit. 4
Coke, 128. Fatuous, among our jurisconsults, is understood for a man not of right mind; and he is called “fatuus” who is altogether foolish.
Fatuus praesumitur qui in proprio nomine errat. A man is presumed to be simple who makes a mistake in his own name. Code, 6. 24, 14; Van Alst v. Hunter, 5 Johns. Ch. (N. Y;) 148, 161.