Old Eng. Law. Obs. Forms: 1 werʓeldtheof (-ʓild-), 3 weregelt thef; 3–5 wer(e)gelthef (4 wergiltif, 5 werkelthef). [OE., f. prec. + þéof THIEF.] A thief or other criminal whose ‘wergeld’ was paid as a satisfaction for his crime; also ellipt. jurisdiction over a thief of this description.
c. 690. Laws Ine, § 72. Ʒif mon werʓildðeof ʓefehð.
781. in Birch, Cartul. Sax., I. 334. Nec etiam fures illos quos Saxonice dicimus uuerȝeldtheouas alicui foras reddant.
1235. in Cal. Charter Rolls (1903), I. 208. [With] soc and sac,… infangenthef, utfangenthef, wergeldthef, hamsocn [etc.].
c. 1290. Fleta, I. xlvii. (1647), 62. Weregelt ther, latronem qui redimi potest.
13[?]. Higden, Polychron. (Rolls), II. 92, 94. De quibus [legibus] nonnulla vocabula adhuc frequentata … hic inserere dignum duxi:…. Wergelthef, id est, solte de laroun eschape.
c. 1437. John Brompton, in Twysden, Hist. Angl. Script. (1652), 957. Weregelthef est solutio latronis evasi, i. soute de latrone eschape.
