Murdrum

old Engl. law. During the times of the Danes, and afterwards till the reign of Edward III, murdrum was the killing of a man in a secret manner, and in that it differed from simple homicide.

When a man was thus killed, and he was unknown, by the laws of Canute he was presumed to be a Dane, and the vill was compelled to pay forty marks for his death. After the conquest, a similar law was made in favor of Frenchmen, which was abolished by 3 Edw. III.

By murdrum was also understood the fine formerly imposed in England upon a person who had committed homicide perinfortunium or se defendendo.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.