vigilance committee

American  

noun

1. an unauthorized committee of citizens organized for the maintenance of order and the summary punishment of crime in the absence of regular or efficient courts.

2. History/Historical. (in the South) an organization of citizens using extralegal means to control or intimidate Black people and abolitionists and, during the Civil War, to suppress Union loyalists.

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vigilance committee British  

noun

1. (in the US) a self-appointed body of citizens organized to maintain order, punish crime, etc, where an efficient system of courts does not exist

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Etymology

Origin of vigilance committee

An Americanism dating back to 1825–35

Example Sentences

When they learned that the loggers had finally arrived, members of Sawawo's vigilance committee traveled up the Amônia in their boats.

From Scientific American

Therefore, communities would organize their own forces, called "vigilance committees" whose job was to be "vigilant" to protect their own homes and communities.

From Salon

“Even before the Civil War, Louisiana was infamous for its frequent feuds, street fights, duels, whiskey brawls, vigilance committees and outbursts of violence,” the historian Gilles Vandal wrote.

From New York Times

Whole city blocks brimmed with fugitives, and these fugitives were organized into vigilance committees, which guarded one another and watched for Ryland’s Hounds.

From The New Yorker

Black “vigilance committees” in the North met slave hunters with physical resistance.

From Washington Post