Hue and cry
In common law, a hue and cry is a process by which bystanders are summoned to assist in the apprehension of a criminal who has been witnessed in the act of committing a crime.
- a loud outcry formerly used in the pursuit of one who is suspected of a crime
- the pursuit of a suspect or a written proclamation for the capture of a suspect
- a clamor of alarm or protest
By the Statute of Winchester of 1285, 13 Edw. I cc. 1 and 4, it was provided that anyone, either a constable or a private citizen, who witnessed a crime shall make hue and cry, and that the hue and cry must be kept up against the fleeing criminal from town to town and from county to county, until the felon is apprehended and delivered to the sheriff.
All able-bodied men, upon hearing the shouts, were obliged to assist in the pursuit of the criminal, which makes it comparable to the posse comitatus. It was moreover provided that "the whole hundred … shall be answerable" for any theft or robbery, in effect a form of collective punishment. Those who raised a hue and cry falsely were themselves guilty of a crime.
The reference to "the whole hundred" has to do with prominent system of government known as the tens, hundreds and thousands which stemmed back to before ancient Israel. All free people used some form of these networking groups bound together by a common sense of justice, or what became known as the common law.
Anglo-Saxons, Tuns, were divided into family groups of ten, called a Tithing. Ten of these family assemblies formed a hundred and ten hundreds formed a thousand. They were the means by which all charity, justice and warfare were conducted.
In Oliver Twist, Fagin reads the Hue and Cry which was an early name of the weekly Police Gazette (UK) magazine detailing crimes and wanted people.
Etymology
It is possible that it is an Anglicization via Anglo-French of the Latin, hutesium et clamor, meaning "a horn and shouting". But other sources indicate that it has always been a somewhat redundant phrase meaning an outcry and cry. "Hue" appears to come from the Old French huer which means to shout, and Old French crier which means to cry.