Definition
A compound phrase used in statutes, pleadings, and common law instruments to describe conduct that impedes, blocks, or prevents the exercise of a right, duty, or lawful process. The phrase typically appears as a unit rather than as two independent verbs — the pairing is rhetorical and legal convention, intended to capture both active resistance and more passive forms of interference.
As a term of art, "obstruct and hinder" imports two related but distinguishable ideas: obstruction suggests a direct blocking or frustration of a process, right, or officer's action; hindrance suggests a slowing, burdening, or making more difficult — something short of complete prevention. Together, the phrase reaches conduct that might escape either word alone.
The phrase appears most frequently in:
1. Criminal obstruction statutes — prohibiting interference with officers, courts, or governmental processes.
2. Debt and property instruments — where a grantor or obligor is prohibited from obstructing and hindering a creditor's enforcement rights.
3. Civil rights and franchise contexts — where the phrase historically described wrongful interference with legally recognized entitlements.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "Obstruct" — to block or impede passage or progress. "Hinder" — to create difficulties for; to delay or prevent.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "Obstruct" — to block up; to stop up or close, as a way or passage; to be in the way of. "Hinder" — to keep back or behind; to prevent from starting or moving forward; to check; to retard; to obstruct.
In common usage the two words overlap substantially and are near-synonyms. In legal usage, the pairing is not redundant — it is a term of art designed to cover a broader spectrum of interference than either word alone would reach. A researcher encountering "obstruct and hinder" in a statute or pleading should treat it as a unified phrase with a specific legal scope, not as two separately defined acts.
Common Confusion
The phrase is sometimes read as purely duplicative — two words meaning the same thing. Courts have rejected this reading. As Bouvier's records, the phrase "imports resistance and obstruction of rights," suggesting that each word contributes a distinct valence: obstruct connotes direct, affirmative blocking; hinder connotes something less than total prevention but still wrongful impediment. Conflating the two can cause researchers to underread the scope of what a statute or instrument actually prohibits.
The phrase should also be distinguished from "obstruct justice" as a standalone concept. "Obstruct and hinder" is a phrase appearing across multiple legal contexts — not only in criminal law, but also in civil, property, and franchise settings. Obstruction of justice is a specific federal and state criminal offense with defined elements; "obstruct and hinder" is a broader descriptive phrase that may appear in that context but is not limited to it.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in historical sources will encounter "obstruct and hinder" appearing in instruments and statutes where modern drafting would use "interfere with" or simply "obstruct." The phrase signals a pre-modern drafting convention of doublets — paired synonyms or near-synonyms used to ensure comprehensive coverage. Recognizing this pattern prevents misreading historical instruments as imposing two separate and independent obligations.
The Kentucky case cited by Bouvier (92 Ky. 624) provides the only direct judicial gloss in the historical dictionary record. Researchers working in 19th-century state court sources — particularly in debtor-creditor, property rights, or franchise litigation — are most likely to encounter this phrase as a live issue. Federal researchers should be aware that modern obstruction statutes (18 U.S.C. §§ 1501–1521) use more specific and varied language; "obstruct and hinder" as a phrase does not appear verbatim in the current federal code, which means researchers must translate the historical phrase into applicable modern statutory terms.
For corpus searches, querying "obstruct and hinder" as a phrase will surface historical pleadings, instruments, and state statutes more reliably than querying the two words separately. The phrase may also appear in older equity pleadings as part of a bill's charging language, distinct from the ultimate relief requested.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's Law Dictionary provides a brief but precise entry: "The words 'obstruct and hinder' import resistance and obstruction of rights." The citation to 92 Ky. 624 grounds this in judicial interpretation rather than pure definitional assertion, which is notable given the brevity of the entry.
Bouvier's does not elaborate on the distinction between the two words individually, but by cross-referencing "DEFEAT OR OBSTRUCT," it signals that the phrase belongs to a family of compound legal terms used to describe wrongful interference with rights. That cross-reference is useful navigational intelligence: researchers who encounter "obstruct and hinder" in a source should also search "defeat or obstruct" for related doctrine and usage patterns.
What historical dictionaries do not address is the phrase's relationship to the modern statutory obstruction framework. The gap between the historical phrase and current federal and state obstruction law requires researchers to bridge independently, using the encyclopedia entries below rather than relying on Bouvier alone.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Obstruction of Justice (18 USC 1501–1521) — The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia
Resisting Arrest and Obstruction of Law Enforcement — The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia