Legal Term: COMMON SCOLD

Definition: Crim. law, communes rixatrix. A woman, who, in consequence of her boisterous, disorderly and quarrelsome tongue, is a public nuisance to the neighborhood. 2. Such a woman may be indicted, and on conviction, punished. At common law, the punishment was by being placed in a certain engine of correction called the trebucket or cocking stool. 3. This punisbment has been abolished in Pennsylvania, where the offence may be punished by fine and imprisonment.12 Serg. & Rawle, 220; vide 1 Russ. on Cr. 802 Hawk. B. 2, c. 25, s. 59 1 T. R. 756 4 Rogers" Rec. 90; Roscoe on Cr. Ev. 665.

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