LYNCH LAW (ante) is said to have derived its name from one James Lynch, a farmer in Piedmont co., Va. As there was no regularly established court of law in the vicinity, the inhabitants were in the habit of bringing disputed questions, or the trial of criminals, before Lynch, who gave summary judgment according to his opinion of the facts, without any too strict adherence to the letter of the law. From the frequency with whickhe perfornied the duties of a judge, lie came to be known as " judge" Lynch, and his nanie was given to the custom of violent, unauthorized trial and execution which has sprung up in the new and turbulent communities of the west and south in this country. It has gradually disappeared front most of those communities as their population has increased, and now lingers in only the least advanced of them. In a new country, in which justice cannot be administered, it seems sometimes a necessary evil. Though the name is commonly considered to have had its origin as described, its real origin is entirely problematical. It is also ascribed to other persons of the name of Lynch; one, the founder of the town of Lynchburg, Va.; the other, a person sent to this country front England, in the 17th c., under a commission to suppress piracy, and who is credited with having faithfully carried out his instructions to execute, without the formality of a trial, any pirate whom be could capture. According to another
account, lynch law owes its name to James Fitzstephens Lynch, who was mayor of Gal way in 1493. He carried on an extensive trade with Spain, where he sent his son, with a large sum of money, to buy wine. Young Lynch spent the money, but bought a cargo on credit from a Spanish merchant, whose nephew came to Ireland on the ship with young Lynch to collect the money. Lyuch, to cover his own crime, threw him over board. The murder was revealed by a sailor to the intyor of Galway, who tried and condemned his son; and when his family attempted to prevent the sentence from being carried into effect, himself acted as his son's executioner. Lynch law was anciently known in England by the name of Lydford law. Lydford, in Devonshire, was a walled town, with a castle, wherein the courts of the duchy of Cornwall were held. Persons accused of violating the laws of the duchy were imorisoned in so foul a jail, before being brought to trial, that Lydford law became a proverbial expression for summary punishment .without trial. The same thing was variously called, in Scotland, Cowper law, Jedburgh justice, etc.