vigilantes definition of vigilantes in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

vigilantes (vĭjĭlăn`tēz), members of a vigilance committee. Such committees were formed in U.S. frontier communities to enforce law and order before a regularly constituted government could be established or have real authority. They were most common in mining communities, but were also known in cow towns and in farming settlements. The extreme penalty inflicted by the vigilantes was lynching lynching, unlawfully hanging or otherwise killing a person by mob action. The term is derived from the older term lynch law, which is most likely named after either Capt. William Lynch (1742–1820), of Pittsylvania co., Va., or Col.
..... Click the link for more information. . Among the most famous of the vigilante groups were those formed in San Francisco in 1851 and reorganized in 1856 to bring order to the notorious Barbary Coast Barbary Coast , waterfront area of San Francisco, Calif., in the years after the 1849 gold rush. Gamblers, gangsters, prostitutes, and confidence men flourished, and the brothels, saloons, and disreputable boardinghouses made the Barbary Coast—named after the
..... Click the link for more information. . Measures taken by vigilance committees were at best extralegal. When such committees were formed in a community with a well-constituted government and a police force, they were strictly illegal and usually were merely the expression of mob violence.

Bibliography

See W. Gard, Frontier Justice (1949, repr. 1968); S. A. Coblentz, Villains and Vigilantes (rev. ed. 1957); A. C. Valentine, Vigilante Justice (1956); J. H. Jones, The Minutemen (1968); A. Madison, Vigilantism in America (1973).

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No references found	Wherefore we pray you heartily to beware, and to be found watching, even as the Holy Text hath it, Invenientur vigilantes. Ivanhoe by Scott, Walter View in context	ViewPoints viewport Views viewset Vieytes, Hipolito Vieytes, Hipólito VIF Viga Viganò, Salvatore Vigdorova, Frida Vigdorova, Frida Abramovna Vigée-Lebrun, Élisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, Elisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun, Élisabeth Louise Vigel, Filipp Vigel, Filipp Filippovich Vigeland, Adolf Gustav Vigeland, Gustav Vigen Gaikovich Khechumian Vigen Khechumian Viggo Brondal Viggo Brøndal vigia vigil vigilance vigilantes Vigilantius Vigilius Vignelli, Massimo Vignemale Vigners, Leonids Vigners, Leonids Ernestovich vignette Vignette V7 Vignetting Vignola Vignola, Giacomo Da Vigny Vigny, Alfred Victor De Vigny, Alfred Victor, comte de Vigny, Alfred-Victor, count de Vigo Vigo County Vigo, Francis Vigo, Jean vigour vigoureux printing Vigreaux column vihara Vihorlat Vihuela	vigil vigil vigil vigil candle vigil coma Vigil for Civility vigil light Vigil Mass vigilambulism vigilance vigilance vigilance vigilance vigilance committee vigilance committees Vigilance Factor vigilance man Vigilancy vigilans vigilant vigilant vigilant vigilante vigilante vigilante Vigilante 8 Vigilante justice Vigilante justice vigilanteism vigilanteism vigilantes Vigilantians Vigilantibus et non dormientibus serviunt leges vigilantism vigilantism Vigilantius vigilantly vigilantly Vigilanza Antincendi Boschivi vigilence Vigiles Vigiles Vigiles Vigili Del Fuoco Vigilia Vigilinx Business Security Assessment Vigilinx Managed Security Services Vigilius Vigils Vigils Vigils Vigils of flowers Vigily Viginia Viginia Viginia Viginia tech vigintillion vigintillionth Vigintivirate VIGIV

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Wherefore we pray you heartily to beware, and to be found watching, even as the Holy Text hath it, Invenientur vigilantes.

Ivanhoe by Scott, Walter View in context