Stellionatus

Stellionatus (from stellio, a tarantula), a name applied in the time of the early Church to all imposture and fraud which has no special title in law — such as mortgaging property already engaged; changing wares which have been sold, or corrupting them; substituting baser metal for gold. The chief of these crimes were forgery, calumny, flattery, deceitfulness in trust, and deceitefulness in traffic. See Bingham, Christ. Antiq. bk. 16, ch. 12,§ 14.