lynch law

American  

noun

1. the administration of summary punishment, especially death, upon a suspected, accused, or convicted person by a mob acting without legal process or authority.

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lynch law British  

noun

1. the practice of condemning and punishing a person by mob action without a proper trial

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lynch law Cultural  

1. The punishment of supposed criminals, especially by hanging, by agreement of a crowd and without a genuine criminal trial. Lynch law was used in the early settlement of the West as a way of maintaining minimal law and order before a sheriff and courts could be set up. It has also been used to deprive unpopular suspects of their rights and to satisfy a mob's thirst for vengeance. Lynch law was often used by whites in the South to terrorize and subjugate blacks.

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Etymology

Origin of lynch law

1805–15, after the self-instituted tribunals presided over by William Lynch (1742–1820) of Pittsylvania, Va., c1776

Example Sentences

The U.N.'s Trygve Lie snapped back: "I am taking orderly and legal measures . . . without recourse to lynch law and smear."

From Time Magazine Archive

Once the struggle against lynch law was won, the N.A.A.C.P. could give top priority to another drive�against segregated education.

From Time Magazine Archive

From that event many intelligent and conservative people associated slavery with lynch law and outrage upon the rights of free speech and popular assembly.

From William Lloyd Garrison The Abolitionist by Grimké, Archibald Henry

The safeguards of trial by jury, regular judicial procedure, and habeas corpus were established, in order that the methods of civilized life might take the place of the rough-and-ready justice of lynch law.

From History of the United States by Beard, Charles A. (Charles Austin)

What effort was made in 1768 to put a stop to lynch law?

From Civil Government in the United States Considered with Some Reference to Its Origins by Fiske, John