† halsfanghealsfangn.
Anglo-Saxon Law.
A word used in the Old English or Anglo-Saxon Laws, meaning apparently originally some punishment and afterwards the fine in commutation thereof. The legal antiquaries since c1600 have taken it to mean the pillory; but this is strongly combated by Schmid, Gesetze der Angelsächsen s.v.
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society > authority > punishment > public or popular punishments > [noun] > punishing by pillory or stocks > pillory or stocks
stocksc1325
pilloryc1330
stocka1382
gofe1489
stretchneck1543
harmans1567
foot trap1585
pigeonholes1592
jougs1596
berlina1607
halsfang1607
gorget1635
cippusa1637
nutcrackers1648
catasta1664
wooden cravat1676
the wooden ruff1677
neck stock1681
wooden casement1685
timber-stairsc1750
Norway neckcloth1785
law-neck-cloth1789
stoop1795
timber1851–4
nerve1854
a1000 Laws of Wihtræd (Schmid) c. 12 gif ceorl buton wifes wisdome deoflum gelde, he sie ealra his æhta scyldig and heals-fange.
a1000 Laws of Edmund ii. c. 7 Of þam dæge on xxi niht gilde man heals-fang.
a1135 Laws Hen. i. c. 14 §3 Mediocris thaini, equus cum apparatu suo, et arma ejus, et suum halsfanga in Westsexa; in Myrcenis duae librae.
a1135 Laws Hen. i. c. 76 §1 Et debet halsfang primo reddi, sicut weræ modus erit.
1607 J. Cowell Interpreter sig. Ccc1v/1 Pillorie..was among the Saxons called Healsfang of (Heals) a necke and (Fang) to take.
1609 J. Skene tr. Regiam Majestatem 121 The Baxter sall be put vpon the Pillorie (or ‘halsfang’) and the Browster upon the Cockstule.
1848 J. J. S. Wharton Law Lexicon 287/2 Healfang or Halsfang, the pillory; also a pecuniary mulct, to commute for standing in the pillory.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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