BOYCOTT. — Boycott consists in an agreement by which several persons resolve to break off economic relations with a third party, as well as in the action they take to induce others to adopt the same conduct. The severing of economic relations is generally realized by actually prohibiting the buying and selling of goods or by preventing the hiring of workers by one or more employers. Boycott, as is evident, proves harmful to those against whom it is directed, but it often damages those who resort to it as well; and it can have repercussions of serious consequence upon the economy of a country; for which reason, in some legislations, such as the Italian one (art. 507 of the Penal Code), it is considered a crime against the public interest. Morally, it can be justified only in the case that an injustice has been suffered 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.
The term derives from the surname of Captain James Boycott, administrator of the vast estates of Lord Erne, an Irish landowner. His administration was so harsh that the tenants of one estate, having united in a league (1880), abandoned the fields and herds and induced other tenants to follow them: James Boycott was forced to leave his post and the country.