lynch law

lynch law (uncountable)

1. The practice of condemning and punishing a person by mob action without a proper trial.
   • 1853, Leon Faucher, chapter IV, in Thomson Hankey, transl., Remarks on the Production of the Precious Metals, and on the Demonetization of Gold in Several Countries in Europe‎, 2nd revised edition, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., →OCLC, page 50:

     Anarchy still reigns in this new country;—not only have the miners to defend their persons and their acquisitions against the incursions from Indian tribes; not only are crimes and offences common (lynch law maintaining a permitted existence instead of laws and police); but every one appears to hold his property by right of first comer: a miner choses the spot he likes best; a strong arm and a carbine, with a steady eye, are his title deeds. To seize upon a rich "placer" from a miner too weak to resist, is called in the slang of the district, to "jump a claim." The President of the United States himself, stated in his last message, that "The mineral lands should remain free to every citizen;" and the Secretary of State has added, "that the right of occupancy should be submitted only to such laws as the miners themselves thought fit to make."