BOYCOTT. - A boycott consists in the agreement that several persons make to break off economic relations with a third person, as well as in the action they exert upon other parties to induce them to adopt the same conduct. The breaking off of economic relations generally takes concrete form in factually prohibiting the buying and selling of goods or in preventing the hiring of workers by one or more employers. The boycott, as is evident, proves harmful to the persons against whom it is directed, but often it harms as well those who resort to it; and it can have repercussions of grave resonance upon the economy of a country; for which reason in some legislations, as in the Italian one (art. 507 of the Penal Code), it is considered a crime against the interest of the community. Morally it can be justified only in the hypothesis that one has suffered an injustice and there is no possibility of obtaining redress through legal channels; and provided that there is a certain proportion between the harm suffered and the harm inflicted.
It derives from the surname of Captain James Boycott, agent of the vast estates of Lord Erne, an Irish landowner. His administration was so harsh that the tenants of an estate, having united among themselves in a league (1880), abandoned fields and herds and induced other tenants to follow them: James Boycott was forced to leave his office and the country.
Bibliography2 worksG. Carrara, Il b., Milan 1924; V. Manzini, Trattato di Diritto penale italiano, VII, Turin 1936, pp. 111-26.
BIBL.: G. Carrara, Il b., Milan 1924; V. Manzini, Trattato di Diritto penale italiano, VII, Turin 1936, pp. 111-26.
Pavan, Pietro. “Boicottaggio.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, coll. 1765–1766. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949. https://azioneromana.com/article/boicottaggio.
MLA
Pavan, Pietro. “Boicottaggio.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949, coll. 1765–1766. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/boicottaggio.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec2_boicottaggio,
author = {Pavan, Pietro},
title = {Boicottaggio},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {II},
pages = {1765--1766},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1949},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/boicottaggio}
}
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