Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1983 (DOST Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Outfangtheif(f, n. Also: -thief(e and plur. -thewis. [Early ME. utefangthef (1228), outefangethef (1228), e.m.E. outfanthef (1535), outfangthiefe (1579), later var. of Outfangand-thef(e.] A franchise, which is variously explained, granted to the lord of a private jurisdiction.Presum. orig. (see Outfangand-thef(e) the right to pursue a thief outside one's own jurisdiction and to bring him back to one's own court for trial. But also taken (as also in medieval English law) as the right to try a thief coming from outside one's jurisdiction, if apprehended within it.Found chiefly in grants of land among the list of rights accorded to the grantee, also once (b below) in an indictment (and cf. also Outfang), in both cases perh. merely as a term of style.For further instances see Infangtheif n. (c).(1) 1597 Skene Verb. S. (1599) s.v. Infangthefe.
And outfangthiefe is ane forain thiefe, quha cumis fra an vther mans lande or jurisdiction [etc.] Ib.
And out-fang-thiefe is power … to … bring hame to his awin court al thieues being his awin men & committand thieft within his awin boundes quha ar fugitiue and taken within anevther mans jurisdiction a1633 Hope Major Pract. II. 42.
Thess [barons] that have the priviledge of outfang theiffes may judge all theifes taken within their barronie(2) 1508 Exch. R. XIII. 71.
Cum furca, fossa, sok, sak, tholl, theme, infangtheif, outfangtheif, pott et gallows, vert, vennyson et waith 1560 Reg. Privy S. V. i. 183/2. 1564 Antiq. Aberd. & B. II. 91. 1591 McKay Hist. Kilmarnock 301. 1601 Frasers of Philorth 267. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. (Latin) i. 11, 11b. 1632 Lanark B. Rec. 327. 1697 Dundee Chart. 119.

b. Also applied, in an indictment, to an accused thief. 1595 Misc. Spald. C. II. 130.
Ye are indytit for commoun notorious theiffis and resettaris of thift, outfang and infang thewis