PECUNIA, civil law, property By the term was understood, 1. Money. 2. Every 
thing which constituted the private property of an individual, or which was 
a part of his fortune; a slave' a field, a house, and the like, were so 
considered. 
     2. It is in this sense the law of the Twelve Tables said; Uti quisque 
pater familias legassit super pecunia tutelare rei suae, ita jus esto. In 
whatever manner a father of a family may have disposed of his property, or 
of the tutorship of his things, let this disposition be law. 1 Lecons Elem. 
du Dr. Civ. Rom. 288. 
     3. Flocks were the first riches of the ancients, and it is from pecus 
that the words pecania, peculium, peculatus, are derived. Co. Litt. 207.