Backberend and handhabend explained

In Anglo-Saxon law, backberend (also spelled backberende or back-berande) and handhabend (also spelled hand-habend or hand-habende) were terms applied to a thief who was found having the stolen goods in his possession.^[1] The terms are respectively derived from "bearing [a thing] upon the back" and "having [a thing] in the hand".^{[2] [3]}

The thief himself was a hontfongenethef, meaning "a thief taken with handhabend"; i.e., captured while holding the stolen item in his hand, later described as "red-handed".^[4]

By extension, handhabend and backberend also means the jurisdiction to try a thief caught with the property in question. A thief so caught could be given a trial of a more summary nature.^[5] Almost any theft could be a felony, and the death penalty might be applied.

See also

• Halifax Gibbet

Notes and References

1. Bracton de Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ 1, 3, tr. 2, c. 32.
2. Henry C. Black, Black's Law Dictionary, 4th ed. 1968; see also 7th ed.
3. John Bouvier, A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, 15th ed., 1883.
4. Henry C. Black, Black's Law Dictionary, 4th ed. 1968.
5. Laws of Henry I, chap. 59; Laws of Aethelstane, § 6; Fleta, lib. 1, chap. 38, § 1; Britton p. 72; DuCange, Handhabenda.