outfangthief
UK/ˈaʊtfaŋθiːf/
outfangthief noun: 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.
Noun
outfangthief
- 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
- 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
- A thief so captured and tried.
Forms of outfangthief
| alternative form | outfangthef |
|---|---|
| alternative form | outfangenthef |
| alternative form | utfangenthef |
| alternative form | utfangenethef |
| alternative form | utfangthief |
| alternative form | utfangethef |
| alternative form | utfangthef |
Origin of outfangthief
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.
Questions about outfangthief
- What does outfangthief mean?
- Outfangthief means 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.
- What part of speech is outfangthief?
- Outfangthief is a noun.
- How do you pronounce outfangthief?
- Outfangthief is pronounced /ˈaʊtfaŋθiːf/ (UK).
Words near outfangthief in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: outfangthief (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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