Outlaw

Outlaw is a term used in historical legal systems to describe an individual who is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the outlaw, so that anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them. Outlawry was thus one of the harshest penalties in the legal system. In early Germanic law, the death penalty is conspicuously absent, and outlawing is the most extreme punishment, presumably amounting to a death sentence in practice. The concept is known from Roman law, as the status of homo sacer, and persisted throughout the Middle Ages.

History

The word outlaw comes from Old English ūtlaga, itself probably from Old Norse útlagi (derived from út, out, and lög, law), a common term in the Viking Age for a person who was declared outside the law.

Middle Ages

In the common law of England, a judgment of (criminal) outlawry was one of the harshest penalties in the legal system, since the outlaw could not use the legal system for protection, e.g. from mob justice. To be declared an outlaw was to suffer a form of social death. The outlaw was debarred from all civilized society. No one was allowed to give him food, shelter, or any other sort of support – to do so was to commit the crime of aiding and abetting, and to be in danger of the ban oneself.

Modern times

In modern times, the term outlaw is used informally to describe individuals or groups who explicitly reject societal norms and laws. This can include everything from nonviolent resistance to violent crime.

See also

• Outlaw (disambiguation)
• Wanted poster
• Fugitive
• Outlaw motorcycle club
• Piracy
• Vigilante

References

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