Definition
In old Lombardic law, the offense of stopping a person on the way — that is, intercepting or obstructing another's passage. The term is closely associated with forestalling, the broader practice of unlawfully intercepting travelers, goods, or persons before they could reach their intended destination or market. Vecorin belongs to a cluster of archaic Germanic and Lombardic offenses governing wrongful interference with free passage and commerce.
Common Confusion
The historical dictionaries record two distinct entries under closely related headings. One definition — appearing in a single Black's entry — describes vecorin as a payment in lieu of veal formerly made in kind, citing Wharton. The other definition, appearing in Black's (both editions) and Burrill, identifies vecorin as the Lombardic offense of stopping one on the way. These two meanings appear unrelated, and the second (the obstruction offense) is the dominant and better-supported definition across the corpus. Researchers encountering the veal-payment definition should treat it as either a separate term or a possible transcription or editorial error in that edition, not as a competing legal meaning of the same word.
Why It Matters in Research
Vecorin is a term of purely historical significance, encountered only in dictionaries and treatises dealing with early Germanic and Lombardic legal systems. Researchers working in medieval legal history, comparative Germanic law, or the ancestry of forestalling and obstruction doctrines may encounter this term in Latin or Lombardic-language sources. It will not appear in case law or modern statutory materials.
The primary research trap is the dual-definition problem noted above. The veal-payment definition in one Black's edition appears unconnected to Lombardic criminal law and is unsupported by any of the other dictionary sources. A researcher relying solely on that edition would reach a different — and likely incorrect — understanding of the term's significance in context.
Burrill's entry adds the most texture, connecting vecorin to the German wegeren (to obstruct or refuse passage) and noting that the Saxon withercoren is translated by Spelman as rebellis — rebel or rebellious. This Germanic linguistic network is useful for researchers tracing the conceptual lineage of obstruction-related offenses across early medieval legal traditions. The connection to forestalling is significant: forestalling evolved in English common law into a recognized market offense before eventually falling away as a distinct crime, and vecorin represents an earlier stratum of the same underlying concern with unlawful interference with movement and commerce.
Historical Dictionary Support
All three sources that address the obstruction definition agree on its substance: vecorin denotes the Lombardic offense of stopping one on the way, and all three cite Spelman as the authority. This consistency gives the obstruction definition solid footing within the historical dictionary corpus. Burrill goes furthest in providing linguistic and comparative context, linking the term to German and Saxon cognates and anchoring it within the broader Germanic legal tradition.
The anomalous veal-payment definition appears in only one entry in Black's and cites Wharton rather than Spelman. No corroborating source in the corpus supports it. The entry may reflect a separate headword that was conflated editorially, or it may be a transmission error. Historical dictionaries of this era were compiled under conditions that made such conflations possible, and researchers should weigh source consensus accordingly.
None of the historical sources provide extended doctrinal analysis, which is consistent with the term's status as a relic term included for completeness rather than practical legal utility.
Jurisdictional Note
Vecorin is specific to old Lombardic law and has no recognized equivalent or descendant in any modern common law or civil law jurisdiction. It is a term of legal history only.