Bloody hand

Under the old English forest laws, bloody hand was one of the four kinds of trespasses in the royal forest, by which the offender, being apprehended and found with his hands or other body part stained with blood, is judged to have killed the deer, even though he was not found hunting or chasing.

References

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). "Bloody hand". Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. 1 (first ed.). James and John Knapton, et al. p. 110.