Medieval hue and cry12/28/2023 They were called huers, since they commonly alerted the waiting fishermen by shouting through speaking trumpets. To be sure of not missing their arrival, fishermen posted lookouts on the cliffs. At that time an important part of local livelihoods in coastal communities came from the seasonal catch of fish called pilchards, which migrated past the coast in great shoals in early autumn. a loud cry calling for the pursuit and capture of a criminal. It seems that hue could mean any cry, or even the sound of a horn or trumpet - the phrase hu e cri had a Latin equivalent, hutesium et clamor, “with horn and with voice”.Īs an etymological footnote, the Old French huer survived in Cornwall right down to the early twentieth century. This came from the Old French hu for an outcry, in turn from huer, to shout. This mysterious word hue is from the first part of the Anglo-Norman French legal phrase hu e cri. The laws relating to hue and cry were repealed in Britain in 1827. The same term was used for a proclamation relating to the capture of a criminal or the finding of stolen goods. Remember, medieval England did not have a regular police force. Anyone who heard this hue and cry were then responsible for joining in the pursuit of the criminal, in order to apprehend them. If the criminal was caught with stolen goods on him, he was summarily convicted (he wasn’t allowed to say anything in his defence, for example), while if he resisted arrest he could be killed. Essentially, the Hue and Cry was a requirement of all peoples of England to ‘hue and cry’ whenever they witnessed a crime. Everybody in the neighbourhood was then obliged to drop what they were doing and help pursue and capture the supposed criminal. If somebody robbed you, or you saw a murder or other crime of violence, it was up to you to raise the alarm, the hue and cry. There wasn’t an organised police force and the job of fighting crime fell mostly on ordinary people. Our modern meaning goes back to part of English common law in the centuries after the Norman Conquest. As a result, you sometimes see the phrase written as hew and cry. an excited protest or alarm or outcry They raised a big hue and cry when they realized that we had failed to notify the bank about our financial problems.A This idiom, meaning a loud clamour or public outcry, contains the obsolete word hue, which people these days know only as a slightly formal or technical word for a colour or shade. A community fugitive containment strategy of medieval England where a yell went up denouncing the offender and all within earshot took up the chase - HueandCry - Hue and Cryĥ. The various statutes relating to hue and cry were finally repealed in the early part of the 19th century.Ĥ. If the criminal bore apparent evidence of guilt on his person and if he resisted capture, he could be killed on the spot if he submitted to capture, his fate was decided by due process. All those joining in the pursuit were justified in arresting the person pursued, even if it turned out that he was innocent. It was the duty of any person wronged or discovering a felony to raise the hue and cry and his neighbours were bound to come and assist him in the pursuit and apprehension of the offender. early English legal practice of pursuing a criminal with cries and sounds of alarm. public outcry, public protest loud clamor, shouting and yellingģ. For example: The explosion was so terrible that people at a distance raised a great hue and cry about an earthquake.Ģ. An excited mass protest, alarm, or outcry of any kind. Others joined him, and soon there was a hue and cry. For example: "Stop, thief," cried John as he ran. noun An alarm and chase after a supposed wrongdoer a pursuit usually by shouting men. The definition of expression " hue and cry":ġ.
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