The present paper focuses on functional and semantic characteristics of hæfdon+past participle in Old English and habdun+past participle in Old Saxon based on the sample retrieved from separate texts. The results of the analysis are interpreted within the frame of the grammaticalisation theory which helps to outline the paths of the development of the perfect meaning in the constructions under consideration. The paper also aims at solving the issue of whether already at that stage the constructions expressed a taxis function, the one which is typical of the Present Day English.