COMMON SCOLD
COMMON SCOLD, Crim. law, communes rixatrix. A woman, who, in consequence of her boisterous, disorderly and quarrelsome tongue, is a public nuisance to the neighborhood.
2. Such a woman may be indicted, and on conviction, punished. At common law, the punishment was by being placed in a certain engine of correction called the trebucket or cocking stool.
3. This punisbment has been abolished in Pennsylvania, where the offence may be punished by fine and imprisonment.12 Serg. & Rawle, 220; vide 1 Russ. on Cr. 802 Hawk. B. 2, c. 25, s. 59 1 T. R. 756 4 Rogers' Rec. 90; Roscoe on Cr. Ev. 665.