The Collaborative International Dictionary
Vigilance \Vig"i*lance\, n. [L. vigilantia: cf. F. vigilance.]
The quality or state of being vigilant; forbearance of sleep; wakefulness.
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Watchfulness in respect of danger; care; caution; circumspection.
--Cowper.And flaming ministers to watch and tend Their earthly charge; of these the vigilance I dread.
--Milton. -
Guard; watch. [Obs.] ``In at this gate none pass the vigilance here placed.''
--Milton.Vigilance committee, a volunteer committee of citizens for the oversight and protection of any interest, esp. one organized for the summary suppression and punishment of crime, as when the processes of law appear inadequate.
Wiktionary
n. (context US historical English) A group of private citizens who administered justice where they considered governmental structures to be inadequate.
WordNet
n. a volunteer committee to maintain order where an efficient legal system does not exist
Wikipedia
A vigilance committee was a group formed of private citizens to administer law and order where they considered governmental structures to be inadequate. The term is commonly associated with the frontier areas of the American West in the mid-19th century, where groups attacked cattle rustlers and gangs, and people at gold mining claims. As such groups operated outside the law, they sometimes took excessive actions and even sometimes killed innocent people without knowing it. In the years prior to the Civil War, some committees worked to free slaves and transport them to freedom.
A vigilance committee is an unofficial grouping within a trade union, formed for the purpose of putting pressure on that union's leadership to pursue alternative policies or to pursue existing policies with increased vigour. Vigilance committees are usually formed when large numbers of union members disagree with the union's official policy, believe that they cannot trust the leadership to protect their interests properly, or that it is necessary for union members to scrutinise the actions of the leadership. In the United Kingdom, vigilance committees were widespread during the 1920s, appearing, for example, amongst seamen, dockers and railwaymen. These vigilance committees were influenced by communist militants of the National Minority Movement. Vigilance committees were also common in 1940s or 1950s, although by this stage most such bodies did not use the term vigilance committee, preferring alternate terms such as Reform Movement.
Category:Trade unions
Usage examples of "vigilance committee".
The Vigilance Committee now felt that the question of social order and the preponderance of the law-abiding citizens had then and there to be decided.
That Lusk fellow, with the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, asked just yesterday for a reward to be offered, officially, by the government.
Malcolm homed in on the roar of shouts from the Vigilance Committee's angry street meeting, steering the Ripperologist back into the chaos in an effort to shake off pursuit.
October was not yet a week old when he showed his scorn for the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee by means of a macabre gift to its founder: he sent Mr.
He took me to his house, and went in search of the late David Ruggles, who was then the secretary of the New York Vigilance Committee, and a very active man in all anti-slavery works.
She was still in Ireland with Janie when Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddows were murdered and when George Lusk, the head of the East End Vigilance Committee, received half of a human kidney by post on October 16th.
But suppose you understand that this coroner's jury is going to turn out to be a vigilance committee in disguise, who will hear testimony for an hour and then hang the murderer on the spot?
I doubt the vigilance committee that strung Black Jack Slade up paid half as much attention as us Rangers to pencil pushing.
I don't aim to give Dewitt and them an excuse to start no Vigilance Committee hereabouts.