dulghadrap (OSw) noun

Literally, ‘hidden killing’. This word is used of the situation in which someone is killed outside a locked house and the killer is not discovered. If the body was found in a locked house, the owner of the property was liable for the compensation. As the custom was normally to declare a killing, the non-disclosure made the crime more serious. Compensation at about a third of that normal for a killing went to the relatives of the dead person (provided they identified themselves within a year and a day) or to the king in the case of DL. This was provided by the landowners of the land where the body was discovered (DL and VmL) or by the whole hundari (q.v.) (if the body was discovered on common land and in every case in UL). The members of the community, or the hundari as appropriate, also had the responsibility for seeking the real culprit. If the relatives did not come forward, within a year and a day, the compensation went to the king. The difference between dulghadrap and morþ (q.v.) is far from clear but to equate morþ with dulghadrap is not justified by the sources available.

fines in frankpledge OSw MEL Kgb
frankpledge OSw MEL DbI
hidden homicide OSw HL Mb
OSw KrL DbI
hidden killing OSw SdmL Kgb, Mb, Till
hidden-homicide fine OSw HL Mb
OSw KrL Kgb
undeclared killing OSw UL Kgb, Mb
OSw VmL Mb
undetected murder OSw DL Mb Refs:

KLNM, s.v.v. drab, dulgadråp, mord; Schlyter 1877, s.v. dulghadrap; SL DL, 42 note 29; SL UL, 53 note 13; 118 note 26, 121−22 not 53