Etymology

scofflaw

scoff·law
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Today it means: a criminal or lawbreaker, especially one who is openly contemptuous or dismissive of current laws or displays conspicuous or outward disrespect, distain, or disregard for the law Full definition →

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The story

From scoff + law. Coined simultaneously by Mr Henry Irving Dale and Miss Kate L. Butler for a contest held in Boston in 1923 in which a word for "a lawless drinker of illegally made or illegally obtained liquor" was sought during the Prohibition era.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.