Pioneers conducted formal trials even beyond reach of any court

Evidence

For most of the distance, they were in a kind of legal no-​man’s land—​outside the reach of law and order. Yet, the behavior of people on the wagon trains and in the emigration companies was surprisingly lawful. Travelers administered “crude but effective justice on their overland journeys”; in some cases, they had “courts” and conducted “trials,” using procedures as regular as their conditions allowed. But this was rough justice indeed. Lafayette Tate, who murdered a man on the overland trail in June 1852, just east of the Rockies, was caught, tried before a makeshift judge, with a makeshift prosecutor, defense counsel, and jury, convicted, sentenced, and quickly hanged. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2121

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Trials served as public entertainment before broadcast media existed — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 1863