the long arm of the law

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the capacity of legal authority to reach those who attempt to evade it, pursue criminals across great distances or time, and ultimately bring rule-breakers to justice regardless of the lengths to which they go to avoid accountability; the phrase personifies the legal system as a figure with an extraordinarily long reach whose arm will eventually extend to apprehend those who try to outrun it, emphasising that the territorial and temporal jurisdiction of law is greater than most fugitives appreciate; it is used both as a warning to those contemplating illegal activity and as reassurance to those who have suffered injustice that the authorities will eventually act