Outlaw

An outlaw is a person formally excluded from legal protection, historically leaving them liable to seizure or killing without ordinary legal process. The term also describes fugitives who live beyond the law.

Anglo-Saxon law: The legal customs and institutions of early medieval England before and after the Norman Conquest. Early English law supplied practices that developed into formal outlawry.
Exile: Forced removal from one’s homeland or community, often imposed as a punishment. Exile removes someone from a place, while outlawry denies legal protection within a jurisdiction.
Blood feud: A prolonged cycle of retaliatory violence between families or groups. When courts offered no protection, outlawry could intensify private retaliation.
Robin Hood: A legendary English outlaw who robs the rich and aids the poor in popular ballads and stories. Robin Hood became the best-known fictional embodiment of the outlaw as folk hero.
Norman Conquest: The conquest of England by William, Duke of Normandy, in 1066 and the political transformation that followed. Norman rulers reshaped English courts and the procedures that could declare someone an outlaw.
Arrest warrant: A judicial authorization for law enforcement to arrest a named person. A warrant seeks arrest through legal authority; outlawry historically exposed someone to action without ordinary process.
Vigilantism: The use of force by private individuals who claim to enforce justice without legal authority. Outlawry’s removal of ordinary protections helps explain the appeal and danger of extrajudicial violence.
Jesse James: An American outlaw and former Confederate guerrilla who led a gang of bank and train robbers in the nineteenth century. James’s public image shows how real criminals could be recast as romantic outlaws.
Common law: A legal system developed through court decisions and precedent rather than solely through enacted codes. English outlawry became a procedure within the common-law tradition.
Due process: Legal procedures and protections that governments must provide before depriving a person of life, liberty, or property. Outlawry represents a stark departure from the protections due process requires.

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