1. LYNCH LAW; more broadly, an irrevocable punishment carried out after a summary trial.
2. The summary and unauthorized trial and execution (usu. by decapitation) of a person accused of a crime. • This term comes from the parish of Halifax, in England, where — according to custom in the forest of Hardwick — this form of private justice was anciently practiced by the free burghers against people accused of stealing. Thieves could be condemned to death by beheading on market day. The last such case is said to have occurred in 1650. — Also termed gibbet law; Halifax inquest.
