Legal Definitions - wealreaf

Wealreaf is an archaic legal term that refers to the act of robbing a deceased person's grave, specifically by taking items that were buried with the body. While not a term used in modern legal systems, it describes the historical offense of plundering a burial site for the possessions interred with the dead.

Here are some examples to illustrate the concept of wealreaf:

• Imagine a scenario in 17th-century England where a desperate individual, knowing a wealthy merchant had been buried with his signet ring and a small pouch of coins, secretly dug up the grave. The individual then opened the coffin and removed these valuable items from the deceased's body.

  This act would be considered wealreaf because it involves the theft of personal property directly from a dead person's grave.

• Consider a historical account of tomb raiders in ancient Egypt who would break into pharaohs' burial chambers, not merely to desecrate the site, but specifically to steal the gold masks, jewelry, and other precious artifacts placed with the mummified remains.

  Such actions, focused on acquiring the possessions buried with the deceased, perfectly exemplify the historical concept of wealreaf.

• Picture a modern, albeit hypothetical, situation where a person learns that a recently deceased relative was buried wearing a very expensive heirloom watch. Driven by greed, this person later returns to the cemetery under the cover of night, excavates the grave, and removes the watch from the deceased's wrist before reburying the coffin.

  While modern law would prosecute this under statutes like grave desecration or theft, the underlying act of stealing from a dead person in their grave directly aligns with the historical meaning of wealreaf.