vigilantism

Vigilantism () is an act commonly summarized as "taking the law into one's own hands" which, according to Merriam Webster, means "to try to punish someone for breaking a law even though one does not have the right to do that." A vigilante is a person who practices or partakes in vigilantism.

==Definition== The term is borrowed from Spanish , which means 'sentinel' or 'watcher', from Latin . There are many different attempts to define what constitutes as vigilantism and how can it be distinguished from acceptable forms of helping law enforcement without any legal authority, such as citizen's arrest and private investigation.