Lynch Law

Lynch Law (whence the verb to lynch), the summary execution of persons obnoxious to society or to certain private individuals without any legal procedure. The term is said to be derived from a Virginia planter named Charles Lynch (1736-96) who in the early years of the American Revolution was in the habit of suspending the friends of the English Government by their thumbs till they cried "Liberty for ever." Although repugnant to dwellers in lands which have long been civilised, "lynching" may sometimes produce salutary effects in newly-settled communities where the administration of justice is as yet inadequate. But, what ever merits may be claimed for it, it has certainly been carried to an extreme in the southern and western states of America.