Lat (Pl., abigei, or more rarely abigeatores.) In the civil law. ' A stealer of cattle; one who drove or drew nway (subtraxit) cattle from their pastures, as horses or oxen from the herds, nnd mnde booty of them, nnd who followed this ns a business or trade. The term wns npplled also to those who drove nwny the smaller animnls, ns swine, sheep, and gonts. in the lntter cnse, it depended on the number taken, whether the offender was fur (n com-mon thief) or abigeus. But the taking of a single horse or ox seems to hnve constituted the crime of abigeatus. And those who fre-quentiy Tlid this were clearly abigei, though they took but nn nnlmni or two nt n time. Dig. 47, 14, 3, 2. See Cod. 9, 37; Nov. 22, c. 15, 8 11 4 BI. Comm. 239
Source: Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
