Boycotting

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

a practice which owes its name to Capt. C. C. Boycott (died June 21, 1897), of Lough Mask House, in Mayo, Ireland, and agent, in 1880, of Lord Erne, an Irish nobleman. The former gentleman having given offense about agrarian matters to the people among whom he lived, during the land agitation of 1880-1881, no one would gather in his crops. The case being reported in the "Press," about 60 Orangemen, belonging to the north of Ireland, organized themselves into a "Boycott relief expedition." The Government gave them a strong escort of cavalry, besides foot soldiers and constabulary, artillery also being added on the return journey. The crops were gathered in and sent away, and the Captain himself brought off to a region of greater security. The object of a boycott is to put a person outside the pale of the society, amid which he lives, and on which he depends; socially to outlaw him, to refuse to sell to, and decline to buy from, him; to refuse to work for or to employ him. In the United States and in England the boycott is made use of by trade unionists as a strike measure. It has in some instances been enjoined by the courts. Laws prohibiting boycotting in terms have been enacted in Colorado, Illinois and Wisconsin, and laws which may fairly be construed as prohibiting boycot ting have been passed in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota , Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire , New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon , South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Wisconsin. In the following States it is unlawful for any employer to exact an agreement, either written or verbal, from an employee not to join or become a member of any labor organization, as a condition of employment: California, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. an