grithbreachn.
Obsolete exc. Historical.
1. Breach of the peace.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > specific offences > [noun] > breach of peace
grithbreachc1000
mundbreachc1210
breach of peace1671
unstillness1846
c1000 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 in Schmid Gesetze 444 Haec [placita] emendantur C solidis: griþebreche, stretbreche, forestel, [etc.].
a1250 Owl & Nightingale 1732 Hunke schal i-tide harm and schonde, Ȝef ȝe doth grith-bruche on his londe.
c1250 Gloss. Law Terms in T. Wright & J. O. Halliwell Reliquiæ Antiquæ (1845) I. 33 Gridbriche, pais enfrainte.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 95 Grythbruche, brekynge of pees.
1607 J. Cowell Interpreter sig. Kk4v/1 Grithbreach, is a breach of peace.
2. The penalty for breach of the peace.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > fine > [noun] > for disturbing the peace
grithbreachc1030
c1030 Laws Cnut ii. c. 15 in Schmid Gesetze 278 And on Dena-lage he ah fyte-wita and fyrd-wita and grið-bryce and ham-socne.
1290 Rolls of Parl. 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 J. Stow Suruay of London 262 Sack and socke, Thole and The, Infangthefe and Grithbriche.
1845 J. Lingard Hist. & Antiq. Anglo-Saxon Church (ed. 3) II. App. o. 434 The grithbrice, the penalty for violating the peace of a church.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
n.c1000