ABIGEUS

abigeus (<<schwa>>-bij-ee-<<schwa>>s), n.[Latin] Roman & civil law. One who steals
cattle, esp. in large numbers; a cattle-rustler. • This was known in the later civil law as an abactor.
Pl. abigei.
“The stealing of a single horse or ox might make a man an abigeus, but it seems that the
crime could not be committed on less than four pigs or ten sheep. They need not however be taken
all together. In such a state of the law one would expect thefts of three pigs or eight sheep to
become abnormally common.” 1 James Fitzjames Stephen, A History of the Criminal Law of
England 27 (1883).