stellionate

[ stel-yuh-nit, -neyt ]

noun

, Civil Law, Scots Law.

1. any crime of unspecified class that involves fraud, especially one that involves the selling of the same property to different people.

Word History and Origins

Origin of stellionate¹

1615–25; < Latin stelliōnātus deceit, underhandedness, equivalent to stelliōn- (stem of stelliō ) lizard, crafty person + -ātus -ate ³

Example Sentences

It existed, indeed, in ancient Rome, and was comprehended under the general term of stellionate, from stelio, a little subtle serpent, common in Italy.

From Project Gutenberg

Thus a too artful fraud causes the aggravating crime called stellionate, and a cheat becomes a forger when he has the cunning to sap the very foundations of our security in written documents.

From Project Gutenberg

This sale is really a stellionate and an extortion; but by the legal fiction of the right of property, this same sale, severely punished, we know not why, in other cases, is a source of profit and value to the proprietor.

From Project Gutenberg