Legal Definitions - blood money

Definition: Blood money is a payment made to the family of a murder victim by the murderer's family. It is also a reward given for the capture of a person charged with a crime, especially murder.

• After the murder of his neighbor, the killer's family paid blood money to the victim's family as compensation.
• The police department offered a large sum of blood money for any information leading to the arrest of the murderer.

These examples illustrate the two different meanings of blood money. In the first example, blood money is used as a form of compensation for the loss of a loved one. In the second example, it is used as a reward for helping to bring a criminal to justice.