AVENGER OF BLOOD, the person, usually the nearest kinsman of the murdered man, whose duty it was to avenge his death by killing the murderer. In early societies crimes of vio lence were regarded as injuries of a personal character to be punished by the sufferer or his kinsfolk. This right of vengeance in many countries was the subject of strict regulations and limitations. The law of sanctuary (q.v.) and the institution of blood-money, and the wergild offered the wrong-doer a mode of escaping from his enemies' revenge.
(See Westermarck, Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, 1 go6, vol. i. ch. xx.)