Character lynching

A phrase popped into my head the other day: "character lynching", for what is done to a man by a false accusation of domestic violence, child abuse or rape. Character assassination is the deliberate trashing of someone behind their back, but it's usually not more than unpleasant gossip. A false accusation via the courts, however, involves dragging in society at large to do your dirty work, egging on the mindless mob to destroy your target and that seems more like a lynching to me. Shrug.