This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations.(October 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Photo of the French edition of Killing No Murder
Killing No Murder is a pamphlet published in 1657[1] during The Protectorate period of the English Interregnum era of English history. The pamphlet of disputed authorship advocates the assassination of Oliver Cromwell. The publication was in high demand at the time of its distribution. Cromwell was said to[who?] have been so disturbed after the publication of Killing No Murder that he never spent more than two nights in the same place and always took extreme precaution in planning his travel.
'Killing, No Murder' asks three questions, which highlight the purpose of the document (from page 9 of the 1743 re-print)
The pamphlet asks three questions, which highlight the purpose of the document (from page 9 of the 1743 re-print):
What is a Tyrant?
Is it honourable to kill a tyrant?
Will the outcome of killing a tyrant be beneficial to the state?
The author(s) of the pamphlet highlight arguments and statements from Aristotle, Plato, Plutarch, Solon's law, Xenophon, Cicero, and other historical writings, as well as contemporaries from the 17th century (e.g., Hugo Grotius) to make the case that to murder a tyrant is (and has forever been) an honourable act. The full document describes the traits of a tyrant in 14 points, of which the most prevailing are:
Prior military leadership service—tyrants are often former captains or generals, which allows them to assume a degree of honour, loyalty, and reputability regarding matters of state
Fraud over force—most tyrants are likely to manipulate their way into supreme power than force it militarily
Defamation and/or disbanding of formerly respectable persons, intellectuals, or institutions, and the discouragement of refined thinking or public involvement in state affairs
Absence or minimalisation of collective input, bargaining, or debate (assemblies, conferences, etc.)
Amplification of military activity for the purposes of public distraction, raising new levies, or opening future business pathways
Tit-for-tat symbiosis in domestic relations: e.g. finding religious ideas permissible insofar as they are useful and flattering of the tyrant; finding aristocrats or the nobility laudable & honourable insofar as they are compliant with the will of the tyrant or in service of the tyrant, etc.
Pretenses toward inspiration from God
Pretenses toward a love of God and religion
Grow or maintain public impoverishment or instability as a way of removing the efficacy of the people's will
"First, therefore, 'a Usurper that by only force possesses himself of government, and by force only keep it, is yet in the state of war with every man,' says the learned Grotius, 'and therefore everything is lawful against him that is lawful against an open enemy, whom every private man hath a right to kill.[2]'"
Other key points:
-As one who submits to no law, a tyrant is not an entity *of* the state so much as an entity outside of it, or above it. As such, a tyrant should not have the protections due through law, or any defence from law since the tyrant acknowledges no laws dictating his own actions. "He that flies justice in the courts, must expect justice in the streets."
^Tedder, Henry Richard (1911). "Pamphlets" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 660.
KillingNoMurder is a pamphlet published in 1657 during The Protectorate period of the English Interregnum era of English history. The pamphlet of disputed...
An honor killing (American English), honour killing (Commonwealth English), or shame killing is a traditional form of murder in which a person is killed...
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a...
serial murder, where there is a period of time between killings. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has found the category to be of no real...
Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person...
five murders of children were committed by other children. Several murders by children have gained prominent media exposure. One was the killing on 12...
A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders two or more people, with the killings taking place over a significant period of...
Mass murder is the violent crime of killing a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic...
An honor killing (American English), honour killing (Commonwealth English), or shame killing is the murder of an individual, either an outsider or a member...
have been murder into manslaughter. A few jurisdictions do not prosecute (Iran, Iraq) or have a lesser penalty (Kuwait, Egypt) for honor killings. Article...
to a contract killing. In October 2012, Swiss prosecutors stated al-Hilli had visited a bank in Geneva shortly before he was murdered. A leaked report...
takes many forms including accidental killing or murder. Criminal homicide is divided into two broad categories, murder and manslaughter, based upon the state...
Killing Fields". Frontline. Season 36. 2018-05-08. PBS. transcript. Law § 235.20 PEN Part 3 Title H "Sentencing - Mandatory life sentences in Murder cases"...
A thrill killing is premeditated or random murder that is motivated by the sheer excitement of the act. While there have been attempts to categorize multiple...
killed. Honour killing – the act of murdering a family member perceived to have brought disgrace to the family. Infanticide – the act of killing a child within...
of the FBI, very few of these murders have been solved. The area has been described as "a perfect place [for] killing somebody and getting away with...
2023). "Jury convicts 3 of murder in death of rapper XXXTentacion". KTLA. Retrieved March 20, 2023. "3 men convicted of killing rapper XXXTentacion sentenced...
Moors murderer claims more killings", 4 August 1987, retrieved 20 September 2018 – via news.bbc.co.uk "Police call off search for Moors murder victim"...
in Mitcham, South London, England. She was murdered on the orders of her family in a so-called honour killing because she ended a violent and abusive forced...
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black American man, was murdered in Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd...
acts, persecution, rape and murder". Extrajudicial killings and death squads are common in Ethiopia. Extrajudicial killings and death squads are common...
KillingNoMurder was published under the pseudonym 'William Allen'. Cromwell was said to have been so disturbed after the publication of KillingNo Murder...
is violent fantasy, especially in the lust murderer. Fantasies accompany "intrusive thoughts about killing someone that are associated with other distressing...
overlapping scope include war crime, pogrom, mass killing, mass murder, and extrajudicial killing. Massacre derives from late 16th century Middle French...
following the killing, the Saudi government admitted on 25 October that he had been killed in a premeditated murder, but denied that the killing took place...
of the Lululemon Athletica Killing. Starbucks murders Crime in Maryland Morse, Dan (October 23, 2011). "Lululemon killing trial begins Monday". The Washington...
Global Information
