Wite - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition wite

Definition :

Wite [Sax.], a punishment, pain, penalty, mulct, or criminal fine.

The wite was a penalty paid to the Crown by a murderer. The were was the fine a murderer had to pay to the family or relatives of the deceased, and the wite was the fine paid to the magistrate who presided over the district where the murder was perpetrated thus, the wite was the satisfaction to be rendered to the community for the public wrong which had been committed, as the were was to the family for their private injury, Bosworth's Anglo-Saxon Dict