grithbreach Obs. exc. Hist.
Forms: see grith and breach.
[OE. grið-bryce, -brice, f. grið grith + bryce breach. Cf. ON. griðabrek.]
1. Breach of the peace.
| c 1000 Laws of æthelred viii. c. 4 in Schmid Gesetze 244 Bete man æfre ærest þone grið-bryce into þare circan, be þam þe seo dæd si, and be þam þe þare circan mæð si. 11.. Laws of Hen. I, c. 12 §2 ibid. 444 Haec [placita] emendantur C solidis: griþebreche, stretbreche, forestel, [etc.]. a 1250 Owl & Night. 1732 Hunke schal i-tide harm and schonde, Ȝef ȝe doth grith-bruche on his londe. c 1250 Gloss. Law Terms in Rel. Ant. I. 33 Gridbriche, pais enfrainte. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 95 Grythbruche, brekynge of pees. 1607 Cowell Interpr., Grithbreach, is a breach of peace. |
2. The penalty for breach of the peace.
| c 1030 Laws Cnut ii. c. 15 in Schmid Gesetze 278 And on Dena-laᵹe he ah fyte-wita and fyrd-wita and grið-bryce and ham-socne. 1290 Rolls of Parlt. I. 27/2 Cum sacha, soca, overstronde & streme, on wode & felde, tol, them, & gridbruch, hamsokne, murdrum & forestal. 1353 in Pote Windsor Cas. (1749) 122 [They should be..discharged from] Grithbrech, Forstall, Homesoken, Blod-wite, Ward⁓mote. 1598 Stow Surv. Lond. 262 Sack and socke, Thole and The, Infangthefe and Grithbriche. 1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) II. App. 392 The grithbrice, the penalty for violating the peace of a church. |