| 释义 |
hue and cry
[French: huer to shout; crier to cry aloud] Historically, the common-law practice of raising a body of people to pursue those suspected of committing a felony or otherwise endangering their fellow subjects. According to the Sheriffs Act 1887 (reenacting a statute of the time of Edward I): “Every person in a county must be ready and apparelled at the command of the sheriff, and at the cry of the country to arrest the felon”, and in default, “shall on conviction by liable to fine and imprisonment, and to an action at the suit of the party injured”. This proved a rough-and-ready, if surprisingly successful, method of catching criminals and was widely used prior to the development of the modern police force. |