vigilance committee

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.

vigilance committee

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of vigilance committee¹

An Americanism dating back to 1825–35

Example Sentences

Among the earliest: groups of “Rangers,” Southern California horsemen assembled nominally to hunt down Mexican “bandidos” but who, as a vigilance committee, became judge, jury and even executioner themselves.

From Los Angeles Times

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

Stephen C. Foster was mayor in the 1850s when a “vigilance committee” he belonged to, a kind of volunteer police force in crime-stricken L.A., tried to lynch an accused murderer.

From Los Angeles Times

“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