lynch law

English - Turkish

Definition of lynch law in English Turkish dictionary: linç kanunu; (Kanun) linç hukuku

English - English

Definition of lynch law in English English dictionary: Word History: In the late 18th century, Pittsylvania County, Virginia, was troubled by criminals who could not be dealt with by the courts, which were too distant. This led to an agreement to punish such criminals without due process of law. Both the practice and the punishment came to be called lynch law after Captain William Lynch, who drew up a compact on September 22, 1780, with a group of his neighbors. Arguing that Pittsylvania had "sustained great and intolerable losses by a set of lawless men... that... have hitherto escaped the civil power with impunity," they agreed to respond to reports of criminality in their neighborhood by "repair immediately to the person or persons suspected... and if they will not desist from their evil practices, we will inflict such corporeal punishment on him or them, as to us shall seem adequate to the crime committed or the damage sustained." Although lynch law and lynching are mainly associated with hanging, other, less severe punishments were used. William Lynch died in 1820, and the inscription on his grave notes that "he followed virtue as his truest guide." But the good captain, who had tried to justify vigilante justice, was sentenced to the disgrace of having given his name to the terrible practice of lynching; The act or practice by private persons of inflicting punishment for crimes or offenses, without due process of law; mob rule, law of the masses; the practice of punishing people by hanging without due process of law