Hue and Cry [fr. huer, Fr. to shout; crier, to cry aloud; hutesium et clamor, Lat.], the old common law process of pursuing with horn and voice felons and such as have dangerously wounded another. It may be raised by constables, or private persons, or both. If the constable or peace officer concur in the pursuit, he has the same power, etc., as if acting under a magistrate's warrant. All who join in a hue and cry, whether a constable be present or not, are justified in the apprehension of the person pur-sued, though it turn out that he is innocent; and where he takes refuge in a house, may break open the door, if admittance be refused; and by the Sheriffs Act, 1887 (50 & 51 Vict. c. 55), re-enacting 3 Edw. 1, c. 9, 'Every person in a county must be ready and appareled at the command of the sheriff, and at the cry of the country to arrest a felon,' and in default 'shall on conviction be liable to a fine.' But if a man wantonly or maliciously raise a hue and cry, he is liable to fine and imprisonment, and to an action at the suit of the party injured. The Criminal Law Act, 1826 (7 Geo. 4, c. 64), s. 28, pro-vides for compensation to persons who have been active in the apprehension of any person charged with murder, or other offences specified in that s., in order to encourage the apprehension of felons. As to the mode of raising the hue and cry, see Hawk. 1. 2, c. xii., x. 6. The term is also applied to a paper circulated by order of the Secretary of State for the Home Department announcing the perpetration of offences.
The public uproar that, at common law, a citizen was expected to initiate after discovering a crime, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn.
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