Dictionary.net

In Scotch law. A general term including all those convocations of the lieges for violent and unlawful purposes, which are attended with injury to the persons or property of the lieges, or terror and alarm to the neighborhood in which it takes place. The two phrases are usually placed together; but, nevertheless, they have distinct meanings, and are sometimes used separately in legal language, the word "mobbing" being peculiarly applicable to the unlawful assemblage and violence of a number of persons, and that of "rioting" to the outrageous behavior of a single indi- vidual. Alis. Crim. Law, c. 23, p. 509.