† ˈinfangˌthief O.E. Law. Obs.
Forms: 1–2 infangenþeof, 3 infangen(e)-, infangethef, 4–6 infangthef, -e, (6 infanthef, infanketheiff), 7 infangtheefe, -theif(e), 9 Hist. infangthief. Also erron. 6–7 infang-, 8 infangentheft.
[OE. infangenþéof, f. in adv. + fangen, pa. pple. of fōn to seize (see fang v.) + þéof thief; lit. ‘thief seized within’.]
Jurisdiction over a thief apprehended within the manor or territorial limits to which the privilege was attached; the right of the lord of a manor to try and to amerce a thief caught within its limits.
According to the 13th c. ‘Laws of Edward the Confessor’, the criminal must be the lord's ‘own thief’, i.e. his own man or tenant; and, according to Bracton, must further be caught in the act, or in possession of the thing stolen; the latter provision also appears in the 16th c. Scotch statements of Balfour and Skene. The Latin formula for ‘infangen þéof and {uacu}tfangen þéof’ was ‘cum furis comprehensione intus et foris’.
| 1020 in Earle Land Charters (1888) 233 Ic cyðe eow þæt ic hæbbe ᵹeunnen him þæt he beo his saca & socne wyrðe, & griðbryces & hamsocne & forstealles & infangenes þeofes. a 1066 Ibid. 343 Ic cyðe eow ðæt ic habbe ᵹeᵹeofen Criste..and ælfwine abbod into Rameseᵹe saca and socna, tol and team, and infangenðeof. 12.. Laws Edw. Conf. c. 22 Quid sit soche, et sache, et tol, et theam, et infangenthef. Ibid. §4 De infangeneþef. Justitia cognoscentis latronis sua est de homine suo, si captus fuerit super terram suam. c 1250 Gloss. in Rel. Ant. I. 33 Infangenethef, Larum pris ens nostre tere. c 1250 Bracton iii. ii. xxxv, Et dicitur infangethef, latro captus in terra alicujus, de hominibus suis propriis, seysitus latrocino. 1292 Britton i. xvi. §1 Qe, tauntost soint pris et en la Court le seignur del fee si il eit la fraunchise de Infangenthef..soint menez en jugement. c 1350 Higden Polychron. (Rolls) II. 94 Infangthef, pelfinde inward [v.r. pelfande in warde], id est infra suum capere reum, Gallice, dedeinz le soen attachement de laroun [Harl. (2261) transl. Infanthef pelfynde inwarde, that is to say, to take a gilty man within his lordeschippe, in Frenche, dedeins le soen atachemente de laron]. 1535 Act 27 Hen. VIII, c. 26 §23 Lordes Marches..shall have within..their said Lordeshippes..Wayff Straiff Infanthef Outfanthef Treasoure Troves. a 1600 Balfour's Practicks (1754) 39 Thair is sum Baronis quha hes privilege and libertie of infang thift and outfang thift, quha thairfoir hes power to sit and give dome..upon all theives tane and apprehendit in manifest thift [Skene Quon. Attach. ch. c., vpon ane man, taken within their fredome, saised with manifest thift] sic as hand-havand and back-beirand, within thair baronie. a 1657 Sir W. Mure Hist. Rowallane Wks. (S.T.S.) II. 241 The Mures..were possessours of the estate & lieveing of Rowallane..infeft cum furca et fossa, sock et sack, thole et theam, infang theif et outfang theif. 1832 Sir F. Palgrave Eng. Commw. vii, At the Conquest, the Lords of Township had a right called the Right of Infang Thief, or summary punishment of criminals taken in open delict. 1839 Kemble Cod. Dipl. Introd. xlv. 1895 Pollock & Maitland Hist. Eng. Law I. 628 The criminal justice of the boroughs [c 1272] seems seldom to have stretched to any higher point than that of infangthief and utfangthief, in other words, the punishment of criminals caught in the act. |