Backberend and handhabend
Introduction 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. The terms are respectively derived from "bearing a thing upon the back" and "having a thing in the hand".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". 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. Almost any theft could be a felony, and the death penalty might be applied.
References
See also *Halifax Gibbet