bodræt (OSw) bodragh (ODan) noun

Literally, ‘dragging from the house’. It describes (incitement to commit) a crime of the type that would now be called ‘an inside job’, especially when the instigator was himself outside the household. The related bospænd (q.v.) occurs only in VmL and seems to describe specifically the act of theft by household members instigated by others, as it is followed by an expression meaning incitement to something. Schlyter and Wennström differ over whether two different crimes are being described. The latter believes that there is a difference, especially as VmL includes two separate statutes, one relating to bodræt and one to bospænd. He considers the latter to refer to the crime of incitement to theft and the former to the theft by household members whether resulting from incitement by outsiders or on their own initiative. These crimes are not mentioned in the laws of Götaland, GL or DL and Wennström argues that the relatively freer nature of household members in Svealand meant that they could be subject to fines and other punishments that were not relevant in Götaland.

house theft ODan SkBL
OSw HL Mb
OSw MESt Tb
OSw SdmL Tjdb
theft by incitement within the household OSw UL Mb
OSw VmL Mb
theft from a house OSw KrL Tb
OSw MEL Tb Refs:

Schlyter 1877, s.v. bodræt, bospænd; SL SdmL, 215 note 68; SL UL, 129 note 166; SL VmL, 102 note 179; Wennström 1936, 90−91