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Great Expectations vocabulary
8 legal terms
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hue and cry
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synonyms: ~posse comitatus ???
tags: [law]
► definition
Definition:1. In common law, [it] is a process by which bystanders are summoned to assist in the apprehension of a criminal who has been witnessed in the act of committing a crime.from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike.2. By extension this can also mean a loud public protest---When [it was] raised against a fugitive, every man had to lay aside his work and join in the pursuit to the best of his ability, anyone failing to do so, or withdrawing himself without permission, was considered to have taken the part of the person who was fleeing from justice, and the two might be hunted down together, and when apprehended, delivered to the Sheriffs, "not to be set at liberty, but by the King, or by his chief justice."Once levied, Hue and Cry recognised no boundaries, the pursuit spread from hundred to hundred, and from county to county, "till they come to the seaside," or until the man surrendered himself.Captain W.L. Melville Lee. A History of Police in England (1901)
► uses
Uses:
it is now laid down afresh that in case strangers do not obey the arrest of the Watch, "hue and cry shall be levied upon them, and such as keep the watch shall follow with hue and cry, with all the towns near." Sheriffs are reminded that it is their duty to follow the cry with the country-side, in pursuit of law-breakers: and that if they are neglectful, a report will be made by the constables to the judges, who will inform the king of the default.
Captain W.L. Melville Lee. A History of Police in England (1901)
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The hue and cry going off to the Hulks, and people coming thence to examine the iron, Joe's opinion was corroborated.
Charles Dickens. Great Expectations (1861)
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"But you know about the murder?"
"Indeed I do. [...] There was a tremendous hue and cry, I had a small part in it myself."
Stieg Larsson. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Reg Keeland translation), p.349 (2009)
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Then you returned, sir, and my brother thought he would be safer on the moor than anywhere else until the hue and cry was over, so he lay in hiding there.
Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)
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