Definition of Abigeus

Lat. (PI., abigei or more rarely abigeatores.) In the civil law. A stealer of cattle; one who drove or drew away (subtraxit) cattle from their pastures, as horses or oxen from the herds, and made booty of them, and who followed this as a business or trade. The term was applied also to those who drove away the smaller animals, as swine, sheep, and goats. In the latter case, it depended on the number taken, whether the offender was fur (a common thief) or abigeus. But the taking of a single horse or ox seems to have constituted the crime of abigeatus. And those who frequently did this were clearly abigei, though they took but an animal or two at a time. Dig. 47, 14, 3, 2. See Cod. 9, 37; Nov. 22, c. 15, § 1; 4 Bl. Comm. 239.