rough justice
Crude but deserved
Rough justice is punishment or retribution that may be approximately deserved but lacks proper legal process or precise fairness.
The phrase suggests a crude balancing of scales—someone gets what's coming to them, even if the method is imperfect or extralegal: The mob delivered its own rough justice.
It can also describe outcomes that are broadly fair but harsh in application: Losing his job was rough justice for years of cutting corners.
- lynch lawExtrajudicial execution by mob
- inequityUnfair distribution or treatment
- verdictOfficial court decision
- grievanceFormal claim of unfairness
- punishmentPenalty for an offense
penalty · trial · kangaroo court · drumhead trial · wild west · extrajudicial · summary execution · mob rule · tar and feather · deterrence · hasty · consequence · rulings · law · dispute · dueling · feuding families · blood feud
- vigilantismvigilante, vigilantism, lynch mob, lynching, posse
- compromisecompromise, middle ground, meet halfway, give and take, give-and-take
rough justicedue process
Guaranteed judicial fairness
fair trial · judicial process · rule of law · legal proceedings · day in court
rough justiceclemency
Merciful treatment of offenders
mercy · leniency · restorative justice · forgiveness · pardon
rough, justice, roughly, roughness, roughen, rougher, roughest, roughs, roughed