Stellionate

ectvil law. A name given generally to all species of frauds committed in making contracts. This word is said to be derived from the latin séellzo, a kind of lizard remarkable for its cunning and the change of its colour, because those guilty of frauds used every art and cunning to conceal them.. But more particularly it was the crime of a person who fraudulently assigned, sold, or engaged in the thing which he had before assigned, sold, or engaged to another, unknown to the person with whom he was dealinv.

Dig. 47, 20,3; Code, 9, 34, 1; Merl. Répert. h.t.; Code Civil, art. 2069; 1 Bro. Civ. Law, 426.