The general call to chase a miscreant; also the pursuit itself. Raising a hue and cry was usually done to alert people in the immediate area to a recent crime; public support in the pursuit and arrest of the criminal was obligatory. Pursuit could go into a neighbouring *vill if need be. To ignore a hue and cry rendered one liable to punishment under *frank-pledge. In writing about murder, *Bracton said that as it was secretly done, 'no public hue and cry immediately pursues [the perpetrator]'. -
Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases. Christopher Coredon with Ann Williams.