Scofflaw is a person who deliberately confronts law and is in the habit of breaking it. He avoids legal summons and doesn’t care whatsoever it is. Many users of the word use it when they refer to a person who commits minor crimes e.g. traffic violations and use the word “outlaw” for heinous offences. Obviously, ignoring the law is not an act of prudence because ultimately the offender has to face the consequences of non compliance.
It is quite interesting to know the origin of the word “scofflaw”. The word was coined as the result of a competition held in 1924 specially for coining the term for a person who disobeys law on alcohol consumption and doesn’t care about it.
A prize of $200 was announced to whoever gives the best name for such a person. Among 25000 contenders, only one term “scofflaw” was selected which was submitted by two contenders who had given the same term. The prize money was divided between the two. The term “scofflaw”, does not refer to an offender who didn’t know the law but however he breaks it due to lack of knowledge. Rather it refers to a person who deliberately and knowingly violates the law.
It also refers to a person who “enjoys” breaking law or degrades its sanctity by regarding it as frivolous. In cities, scofflaw may point towards parking violations or reckless behavior while paying the bus-fare, to disobey litter restriction. In rural areas scofflaw denotes speed violations, deliberately having unlicensed guns, driving vehicles without fastening seat belts. Scofflaw actually refers to a particular type of people with abnormally strong egos and a specific psyche of receiving pleasure by breaking the law.
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