Wrongfully

adv. [f. prec. + -LY².] In a wrong or wrongful manner; wrongly.

  1.  In a manner contrary to the principles of justice or equity; unjustly, unfairly.

  In very frequent use from c. 1400 to c. 1600.

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Troylus, I. 414. If þat I consente, I wrongfully Compleyne i-wys.

1382.  Wyclif, Luke iii. 14. He seith to hem, Smyte ȝe wrongfulli no man.

c. 1440.  Jacob’s Well, 275. Þou seest gode lyuerys suffere wrongefully.

1474.  Caxton, Chesse, I. ii. (1883), 12. He was dampned to deth wrongfully.

a. 1513.  [see WRONG-DOER 1].

a. 1586.  Sidney, Arcadia, III. xiv. Not to suffer such treasures to be wrongfully hidden.

1634.  W. Tirwhyt, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. I.), 121. Justice so exact … that they will not condemn the Devil himself wrongfully.

1697.  Dryden, Æneis, V. 447. Salius … pleads the prize is wrongfully conferred.

1759.  Sterne, Tr. Shandy, I. xix. When once a vile name was wrongfully or injudiciously given.

1823.  Scott, Quentin D., xxvi. If he acted wrongfully, it was in no shape by any precept or example.

1893.  Mary Cholmondeley, Diana Tempest, I. iv. 79. What was a dole of a few hundred pounds now and again, when a man was wrongfully keeping possession of many thousands?

  b.  In an illegal or unlawful manner; contrary to the law; unlawfully, illegally, tortiously.

1439.  E. E. Wills (1882), 119. All maner land that is holden by me or yn my name wrongfully.

1480.  Coventry Leet Bk., 446. Also the people … hurten the ffysshe in Swanneswel-pole be þeir wasshyng ther, which they don wrongfully.

1554.  trans. Littleton’s Tenures, III. 115 b. Yf a man wrongfully take my goodes.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Edw. IV., 231 b. Possessions, which wer from you bothe torciously and wrongfully with holden.

1583.  Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 30. If they possess them [sc. their lands] wrongfully, then ought they to surrender their tytle.

1651.  Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxi. 113. A man might enter in to his own Land, (and dispossesse such as wrongfully possessed it,) by force.

1752–3.  Act 26 Geo. II., c. 19 § 5. Where any such Goods … are wrongfully bought, sold, or concealed.

1768.  Blackstone, Comm., III. 4. When [another] … wrongfully detains one’s wife, child, or servant.

1810.  W. Selwyn, Law Nisi Prius (ed. 2), II. 1249. Plea, that … because the gate was wrongfully erected across the same, the defendant pulled it down.

1885.  Sir N. Lindley, in Law Rep., 14 Q.B.D. 816. The sons’ goods were in this case wrongfully seized.

  † 2.  In an improper fashion; incorrectly. Obs.

1549–50.  in Pettus, Fodinæ Reg. (1670), 91. Where they find any Ground wrought wrongfully by any man, contrary to the right and custom of the Mine.

1551.  T. Wilson, Logike, B ij b. Knotty Subtiltees that are bothe false, and wrongfully framed together.

  b.  Mistakenly; erroneously; falsely.

1743.  Bulkeley & Cummins, Voy. S. Seas, 180. The Governor was right in his Conjecture, and did not suspect them wrongfully.

1896.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., I. 123. I am forced to assume, perhaps wrongfully, that [etc.].