Today, the phrase hue and cry means a clamor or uproar, but in old English law, hue and cry referred to the public outcry during the pursuit of a criminal suspect. Anyone who heard this shouting was legally obligated to join in the chase. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Hue and Cry”
Grant, I didn’t realize that the term hue and cry is an old English legal term.
Hue and cry?
Yeah.
Yeah, according to Black’s Law Dictionary, in old English law, it was a loud outcry with which felons such as robbers, burglars, and murderers were anciently pursued, and which all who heard it were bound to take up and join in the pursuit until the malefactor was taken.
Oh, wow. The old language is just thrilling, isn’t it?
Isn’t that great? Hue and cry.
We don’t write like that anymore. I wonder if at the time if it seemed like deep bureaucratic jargon that people rolled their eyes at like we do bureaucratic jargon today, because now it sounds fantastic and wonderfully archaic.
Hue and cry. 877-929-9673.
