Definition
Sexhindeni (also rendered *sexhindeni*) is a term from Saxon law denoting the middle rank of thanes — the class of thane whose weregild, or legally fixed blood-price, was set at 600 shillings. The term places this group between the lesser thanes valued at 200 shillings (twihindeni) and the greater thanes valued at 1,200 shillings (twelfhindeni). The weregild figure was not merely an abstract valuation; it functioned as the legally operative measure of a person's social rank, determining the compensation owed upon that person's killing and calibrating the weight of their oath in legal proceedings.
---
Why It Matters in Research
Sexhindeni is a term a researcher will encounter almost exclusively in two contexts: historical studies of Anglo-Saxon social structure and comparative legal histories examining the roots of English common law. Its presence in Black's Law Dictionary reflects the nineteenth-century project of tracing common law concepts back through Norman and Anglo-Saxon antecedents — a project that influenced how early American lawyers understood the deep history of status, property, and tort.
For corpus researchers, the key navigational point is that sexhindeni is a classificatory term, not a doctrinal one. It does not describe a legal rule, a cause of action, or a remedy. Its research value is almost entirely contextual: it anchors a researcher in the weregild system, which is the precursor to damages frameworks for wrongful death and personal injury. When working through historical sources that discuss Anglo-Saxon law, a researcher who encounters sexhindeni should immediately look to the surrounding taxonomy — twihindeni and twelfhindeni — to understand the full tripartite hierarchy being described.
The term will not appear in case law or statutory material. Any source using sexhindeni after the Norman Conquest is engaging in legal antiquarianism or historical reconstruction, not practical doctrine. Researchers working on the history of wrongful death, personal injury valuation, or the legal significance of social rank should treat this term as an index to the broader weregild literature rather than a standalone concept.
---
Historical Dictionary Support
Both editions of Black's Law Dictionary consulted here give identical, minimal entries: "In Saxon law. The middle thanes, valued at 600s." The brevity is consistent across sources and reflects the limited doctrinal footprint of the term. Neither edition expands on the legal mechanics of the weregild system or situates sexhindeni within the broader Saxon social hierarchy beyond the single valuation figure.
What the historical dictionaries omit is significant for researchers: they do not explain the function of the 600-shilling valuation, its relation to oath-worthiness, or the distinction between the thane classes as a matter of legal consequence rather than mere social description. The dictionary entries treat sexhindeni as a vocabulary item rather than a legal concept, which is accurate as far as it goes but leaves the researcher without the contextual framework needed to use the term productively. Secondary sources on Anglo-Saxon law — particularly historical treatments of the weregild system — will be far more useful than dictionary entries for any substantive research touching this term.
---
Jurisdictional Note
Sexhindeni has no operative legal meaning in any modern jurisdiction. It is a term of Anglo-Saxon law predating the Norman Conquest and is relevant only to historical and comparative legal scholarship. English law displaced the weregild system after 1066, and the concept was never transplanted to American, Commonwealth, or continental legal systems in operative form.
---