Charles Lynch (judge)
（重定向自Judge Lynch）
![Map of the Colony of Virginia during the pre-revolutionary era.](/Images/godic/202501/21/Virginiacolony2117.png")
Charles Lynch (1736-1796) was a Virginia planter, politician, and American revolutionary who headed an irregular court in Virginia to punish Loyalist supporters of the British during the American Revolutionary War. The terms "lynching" and "lynch law" are derived from his name.