lynch law

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.

lynch law

noun

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

lynch law

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of lynch law¹

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

Example Sentences

There were other charges of love for “sundown towns,” where blacks dared not enter after the sun set during the Jim Crow “lynch law” era.

From Washington Times

"They can deal with crime by chain-gang and lynch law, or at least they think they can, but the South can conceive neither machinery nor place for the educated, self-reliant, self-assertive black man," he wrote.

From Salon

“Police officers are carrying out lynch law right on the streets of American cities.”

From New York Times

This is the racial logic of lynch law, slavery and Jim Crow.

From Salon

His warning against “lynch law” administered by a jury or “by a mob intent on death” was vindicated when Frank was, in fact, lynched by an anti-Semitic mob.

From Washington Post