Dictionary

outfangthief en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈaʊtfaŋθiːf/ (UK)

Etymology

From out- + fang + thief, formed—probably in Middle English [Term?]—after the model of infangthief, with the only Old English [Term?] attestation a spurious charter forged in the 1st half of the 12th century.

Meanings

1. (historical, qualifier:properly, rare) A privilege of some feudal lords permitting them to execute summary judgment upon thieves (particularly their own tenants) captured outside their estates and to keep any chattels forfeited upon conviction.
   • A grant of outfangthief imports the trial of those of his fee taken for felony in another precinct. 1822, John Comyns, Anthony Hammond, A Digest of the Laws of England, Butterworth & Son, page 328:
   • The addition of outfangandthef is much less usual [than infangthief]; it seems to have meant the right to try a man of the barony taken stealing outside the barony, if necessary repledging him to the barony court. 1990, David Maxwell Walker, A Legal History of Scotland, volume II, page 640:
2. (historical, qualifier:generally, rare) A privilege of some feudal lords permitting them to execute summary judgment upon all thieves captured within their estates, regardless of their origin.
   • But feudalism also contained another principle, and that was, that within his own territory each lord was absolute; his suzerain could not interfere with his jurisdiction; infangthief and outfangthief implied a very perfect and intelligible power of hanging and imprisoning as he pleased. 1845, John Henry Newman, Lives of the English Saints, ST Freemantle, p. 19
3. (countable, historical, rare) A thief so captured and tried.

Forms

Relateds

infangthief