This thesis questions whether it is possible to locate a boundary between gift and bribe that can survive comparison across cultures and history. This question is addressed in a multidisciplinary way, engaging the literature on the current use and the history of the language of bribery, studies of gifting and reciprocity, and the anthropological and philosophical literature on relativism. The approach is non-linear—like a hound on a chase, stopping in medieval England, ancient Athens and various societies in the modern world. It is concluded that if there is a universal gift/bribe boundary, it is likely based on a norm of reciprocity rather than on a foundation of assumptions that incorporate modern capitalism and Weberian bureaucracy. This implies that global anti-bribery initiatives, as presently conceived, are ill founded. An alternative account, founded on reciprocity and conventionalism, is postulated as a more secure foundation for locating a gift/bribe boundary.