Faida
Defined in 5 dictionaries — Cyclopedic (1922), Ballentine's (1916), Bouvier (1914), Black's (1891), Burrill (1850)
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
In Saxon law. Great and open hostility which arose on account of some murder committed. The term was applied only to that deadly enmity in deference to which, among the Germans and other northern nations, if murder was committed, punishment might be demanded from any one of kin to the murderer by any one of the kin of the murdered man. Du Cange; Spelman.
Ballentine's Law Dictionary
James A. Ballentine · 1916
Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia
John Bouvier; revised by Francis Rawle · 1914
In Saxon Law. Great and open hostility which arose on account of some murder committed. The term was applied only to that deadly enmity in deference to which, among the Germans and other northern nations, if murder was committed, punishment might be demanded from any one of kin to the murderer by any one of the kin of the murdered man. Du Cange; Spelman, Gloss.
A Dictionary of Law
Henry Campbell Black · 1891
In Saxon law. Malice; open and deadly hostility; deadly feud. The word designated the enmity between the family of a murdered man and that of his murderer, which was recognized, among the Teutonic peoples, as justification for vengeance taken by any one of the former upon any one of the latter.
A New Law Dictionary and Glossary
Alexander M. Burrill · 1850
Feida. L. Lat. [Germ. fehrde, feud; Sax. fah, enmity; fah, a foe.] In old European law. A combination of kindred, to revenge the death of any of their blood against the killer and all his race. Cowell, voc. Feud. A right or custom common to most of the nations of Europe during the middle ages, by which the relatives of a person injured or slain, took up his quarrel, (susceperunt inimicitias,) by placing themselves in a state of open and declared enmity against the wrongdoer and his family, and carrying on a species of private war for the purpose of obtaining the desired satisfaction or revenge. This custom, which is sometimes called deadly feud, was of Germanic origin, and prevailed on the continent and in England down to the time of the Norman invasion. According to the Saxon laws, it might be waived by a pecuniary compensation. Hence the proverb cited by Spelman: Bygs spere of side, othe bere, (buy spear off side, or bear;) i. e. buy exemption from war, or carry it on. Spelman, voc. Faida. 1 Robertson's Charles V. Appendix, Note xxi.