lynch law
- noun
- /lɪnʧ lɔ/
- Offensive
:
linchamiento
- Lynching is associated with lynch law, which is a history of mob violence without legal consequences.
Examples
-
In the old days of segregation and lynch law, the South was primitive, primeval, Gothic, grotesque.
Academic text (1990) -
Thus, he urged, "if lynch law must prevail in this age.
Academic text (2008) -
Lynch law was the opposite of governmental policing.
Academic text (2017) -
Much like the impunity of the master in his dealings with his slaves, lynch law subjected black citizens to a privatized system of local control.
Academic text (2017) -
They came to Omaha not only looking for economic opportunity, but also to escape an oppressive system of tyranny enforced by white lynch law.
Academic text (1994) -
In many regions during the early 20th century, lynch law became a tool for racially motivated violence.
-
The community's reliance on lynch law demonstrated the failures of the judicial system to provide justice.
Synonyms
30
9.9
A killing by a group of people without a trial, often by hanging
Antonyms
- Formal
99
4.0
Fair legal steps that follow rules and protect people from unfair loss of freedom or property
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components give a strong clue: 'lynch' denotes unlawful killing and 'law' here names a practice or system, so learners can infer it refers to a practice involving lynching. However the ironic/contradictory use of 'law' to mean extrajudicial mob justice (punishment without legal trial) may not be fully predictable to a B1 learner, so the relation is only partially transparent.
Etymology
The phrase lynch law may come from a man named Lynch in 1700s America who led quick private punishments when the courts were weak. Because his name came to mean punishment without any legal process, people later used lynch law for mob justice, so today it means 'punishing people without a legal trial, often violently'.