Lynch law

A common phrase used to express the vengeance of a mob inflicting an injury and committing an outrage upon a person suspected of some offence. In England this is called Lidford Law; in Scotland, Covvper Law, Jedburgh Justice. The Ohio act (see infra) deflnes lynching and moh as follows: “That any collection of individuals, assembled for any unlawful purposes intending to do damage or Injury to any one, or pretending to exercise correctional.power over persons by violence, and without authority of law, shall for the purposes of this act be regarded as a ‘mob,’ and any act of violence exercised by them upon the body of any person, shall constitute a ‘lynching.’ ’’ 92 Ohio Laws 136. There are various theories as to the person from whom lynch law derived Its name. That most generally accepted credits It to Col. James Lynch, a Virginian, who. In 1780, administered such law to the extent of whipping but not the death penalty against Tory conspirators. For the protection of himself and his associates an act of amnesty was passed by the Virginia legislature in October, 1782, in which their action was described as "not strictly warranted by law, although Justlfled by the Imminence of the danger." Another person mentioned In this connection was the founder of the town of Lynchburg, Virginia, and another, an Englishman, sent out In the seventeenth century under a commission to suppress plratejs whom he summarily executed without trial. Another account ascribes the term to James Fitz-Stevens Lynch, mayor of Galway In 1493, who tried his son for murder and when prevented from publicly executing him, banged him from the window of his own house. See Int. Cyc.; 6 Green Bag 116; 4 id. 561; 2 Inter-Coll. L. J. 163. All who consent to the infliction of capital punishment by lynch law are guilty of murder in the flrst degree when not executed in hot blood. The act strikingly combines the distinctive features of deliberation and intent to take life. Lynch law differs from mob law In disregarding the forms of ordinary law, while intending to maintain its substance; while mob violence (iupra) provided that any person assaulted by a mob and suffering lynching should be entitled to recover from the county $500; or, If the injury was serious, $1,000; or if it resulted in permanent disability of earning a livelihood $5,000. It also gave the county the right of recovering the amount of any judgment rendered against it from any of the parties composing the mob. This provision was held unconstitutional in specifying a definite recovery regardless of the actual damages suffered, being an encroachment of the legislature upon the judicial i)ower, and so far as the damages awarded exceeded the actual damages suffered, it taxed the county for private interests: Caldwell v. Cuyahoga County Com’rs, 15 Ohio Cir.' Ct. R. 167, affirming 4 Ohio N. P. 249. This decision was followed in another county; 39 Wkly. L. Bui. 103k It is the sworn duty of the governor and the sheriff to see to it that the constitutional guaranty that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, does not become a dead letter. Constitutional and statutory provisions have been enacted providing for the removal of any sheriff who through neglect, connivance, or other grave fault permits a prisoner to be taken away from his custody and killed or 1901; Md. Acts, 1905; So. Cr. Code, 1896. In some states there Is legislation to the effect that In all cases of lynching, the county where it takes place shall, without regard to the conduct of the officer, be liable in damages to the estate of the deceased; Brown v. Orangeburg County, 55 S. C. 45, 32 S. E. 764, 44 L. R. A. 734; Board of Com’rs of Champaign County v. Church, 62 Ohio St. 318, 57 N. E. 50, 48 L. R. A. 738, 78 Am. St Rep. 718. Such acts are held constitutional against the contention that it violates the right of a trial by jury or takes property without due process of law. A sheriff was held guilty of contempt for allowing the lynching of a federal prisoner; U. S. v. Shipp, 214 U. S. 386, 29 Sup. Ct 637, 53 L. Ed. 1041. The Alabama constitution provides that, when a prisoner is taken from a jail and killed, the sheriff may be impeached; in State V. Cazalas, 162 Ala. 210, 50 South. 296, 19 Ann. Cas. 886, it was held that where a negro was quietly taken from the jail and lynched by a few armed men, the sheriff should be removed from office. See Lynch Law, by J. E. Cutler. LYTyE. In Old Roman Law. A name given to students of civil law in the fourth year M M. The thirteenth letter of the alpha* bet. Persons convicted of manslaughter, In England, were formerly marked with this letter on the brawn of the thumb. This letter was sometimes put on the face of treasury notes of the United States, and signifies that the treasury note bears interest at the rate of one mill per dollar, and not one per centum interest.

A term descriptive of the action of unofficial persons, organized bands, or mobs, who seize persons charged with or suspected of crimes, or take them out of the custody of the law, and inflict summary punishment upon them, without Jegal trial, and without the warrant or authority of law LYNDHURST’S (LORD) ACT. This statute (5 & 6 Wm. IV, c. 54) renders marriages within the prohibited degrees absolutely null and void. ‘heretofore such marriages were voidable merely.

The action of private individuals, organized bodies of men, or disorderly mobs, who, without legal authority, punish by hanging, or otherwise, real or suspected criminals, without trial according to the forms of law. American lexicographers refer the origin of the term to the practice, in the seventeenth century, of a Virginia farmer named Lynch. Others trace it to the act of one Lynch, mayor and warden of Gal way, Ireland, in 1493, who " hanged his own son out of the window for defrauding and killing strangers, without martial or common law." Others, again, trace it to the Anglo-Saxon, liiich, to beat with a club, to chastise.* During the war of Independence, one Lynch was president judge of the county court of Pittsylvania, Virginia, The court in that State for the trial of felonies sat at Williamsburg, two hundred miles distant. Horse thieves, who had established posts from far north, through Virginia, into North Carolina, were frequently arrested and remanded to Williamsburg for trial. Not only was the attendance of witnesses, at that distance, rendered uncertain, but when they did appear they were sure to be confronted by false witnesses for the outlaws. Moreover, the difficulty of conveying the accused to Williamsburg was increased, and the sitting of the court made uncertain, by the presence of the British under Cornwallis. Accordingly, the justices of the county court of Pittsylvania assembled, and Judge Lynch proposed that, since for Pittsylvania the court at Williamsburg had practically ceased to exist, and, in consequence,' heinous crimes went unpunished, the court over which he presided should try all felonies committed in the county: that is to say, the place of trial was to be changed by mere resolution. The plan was adopted, with good results: the thieves were disbanded, many being hanged, which was the lawful penalty. This change of forum was against the words of the law, but justified. Lynch and others held, by the circumstances.^ Whatever excuse may exist for the execution of lynch law in savage or sparsely settled districts, in order to oppose the ruffian elements whicli the ordi- ' Dewees v. Adger, 2 Mc Cord, 105 (1822), ^See Riley v. State, 9 Humph, 651 (1849); State v. Abbott, 8 W, Va, 769 (1875); 8 Va, 488; 1 Leigh, 598, s People V. Miles. 55 Cal. 207 (1880), nary administration of law is powerless to control, it certainly has no excuse in a community where the laws are duly and regularly administered,' M. M, 1. A person convicted of manslaughter, in England, was, in former times, branded with an " M " on the left thumb. 2. Treasury notes issued under the act of Congress of October 12, 1838, had an M printed on the face to signify that they bore interest at the rate of one mill per centum.^ 3. The initial letter of other words often abbreviated: as, Maiy (queen), master, maxims, mileage, mortgage. M. D. Middle district. See D, 2. M. L. Mechanic's lien. See Lien. M. R. Master of rolls. See Roll, 2 (2). M. T. Michaelmas term. See Teem, 4.