PIGNORIS CAPIO, ROM. civil law. The name given to one of the legis actiones
of the Roman law. It consisted chiefly in the taking. of a pledge, and was
in fact a mode of execution. It was confined to special cases determined by
positive law or by custom, such as taxes, duties, rents, &c., and is
comparable in some respects to distresses at common law. The proceeding took
place in the presence of a praetor.