Injustice (redirected from do an injustice)

Injustice

American concentration camps

110,000 Japanese-Americans incarcerated during WWII. [Am. Hist.: Van Doren, 487]

Bassianus

murdered after being falsely accused. [Br. Lit.: Titus Andronicus]

Bean, Judge Roy

(1825–1904) his brand of justice was the only “law west of the Pecos.” [Am. Hist.: WB, 2, 137]

Ben Hur

wrongly accused of attempted murder. [Am. Lit.: Ben Hur, Hart, 72]

Bleak House

a fortune is dissipated by the long legal battle of Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce, and the heir dies in misery. [Br. Lit.: Dickens Bleak House]

Bligh, William

(1754–1817) naval officer accused of practising unfair and illegal cruelties. [Br. Hist.: EB, II: 82; Am. Lit.: Mutiny on the Bounty]

Bok, Yakov

Jew falsely accused of ritual murder in Russia. [Am. Lit.: The Fixer]

Budd, Billy

courtmartialed and unjustly hanged as mutineer and murderer. [Am. Lit.: Billy Budd]

Child of the Cord

defendants brought before the Vehmgerichte. [Ger. Hist.: Brewer Note-Book, 166]

Dred Scott

decision majority ruling by Supreme Court that a slave is property and not a U.S. citizen (1857). [Am. Hist.: Payton, 203]

Dreyfus, Capt. Albert

(1859–1935) imprisoned on Devil’s Island on falsified espionage charges. [Fr. Hist.: Wallechinsky, 60]

Eurydice Orpheus’s

wife; taken to underworld before her time. [Gk. Myth.: Magill I, 700–701]

Falder, Justice

law clerk commits forgery for an unselfish purpose, is imprisoned, barred from work, eventually commits suicide. [Br. Lit.: Galsworthy Justice; Magill I, 466]

Furry Lawcats

name given to a rapacious breed in Rabelais’s violent satire on the venality of the courts. [Fr. Lit.: Rabelais Gargantua and Pantagruel]

Hippolytus

falsely accused by stepmother of rape after he rejected her advances. [Rom. Lit.: Aeneid; Metamorphoses]

hops

symbol of injustice. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 174; Kunz, 330]

Jedburgh Justice

Scottish version of lynch law. [Scot. Hist.: Brewer Note-Book, 468]

Jim Crow laws

among other rulings, prevented interstate travel by Negroes. [Am. Hist.: Van Doren, 485]

Joseph K.

though innocent of any crime, he is arrested, condemned, and executed. [Ger. Lit.: Kafka The Trial in Benét, 1023]

kangaroo court

moblike tribunal, usually disregarding principles of justice. [Pop. Culture: Misc.]

Lydford law

“hang first; try later.” [Br. Hist.: Espy, 160]

Lynch, Judge

(1736–1796) personification of mob law, summary execution. [Am. Hist.: Leach, 561]

Martius and Quintus

falsely accused of Bassianus’ murder. [Br. Lit.: Titus Andronicus]

Mohicans

Indian tribe driven off homeland. [Am. Hist.: Hart, 515]

Ox-Bow Incident, The

in revenge for having supposedly rustled cattle and killed a man, three suspects are lynched. [Am. Lit.: The Ox-Bow Incident]

Queen of Hearts

“first the sentence, and then the evidence!” [Br. Lit.: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland]

Rubashov, Nicholas

punished for crimes he never committed. [Br. Lit.: Darkness at Noon]

Sacco and Vanzetti

accused and executed for murder (1927); their guilt has been largely disputed. [Am. Hist.: Allen, 59–61]

Stamp Act

unfair revenue law imposed upon American colonies by Britain (1765). [Am. Hist.: Jameson, 475]

Valjean, Jean

imprisoned nineteen years for stealing loaf of bread. [Fr. Lit.: Les Misérables]

Vehmgerichte

medieval Westphalian tribunals; judges abused juridical powers. [Ger. Hist.: Brewer Dictionary, 1124]