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For other senses of this word, see outlaw (disambiguation).
Western American outlaw as depicted in the The Great Train Robbery (1903 film)
Western American outlaw as depicted in the The Great Train Robbery (1903 film)

An outlaw or bandit is a person living the lifestyle of outlawry; the word literally means "outside the law",[1] by folk-etymology from the original meaning "laid outside" of the Old Norse word útlagi, from which the word outlaw was borrowed into English. The Great Train Robbery is a 1903 western film by Edwin S Porter. Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society [2] In the common law of England, a judgment declaring someone an outlaw, known as a "Writ of Outlawry", was one of the harshest penalties in the legal system, since the outlaw could not use the legal system to protect himself if needed, such as from mob justice. Common law refers to law and the corresponding legal system developed through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive Ochlocracy ( Greek: οχλοκρατία or okhlokratía; Latin: ochlocratia) is government by mob or a mass of people [3]

Though the judgment of outlawry is now obsolete (even though it inspired the pro forma Outlawries Bill which is still to this day introduced in the British House of Commons during the State Opening of Parliament), romanticised outlaws became stock characters in several fictional settings, particularly in Western movies. The Outlawries Bill (or by its Long title, A Bill for the more effectual preventing clandestine Outlawries) is customarily introduced in the United Kingdom The House of Commons' is the Lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords In the United Kingdom, the State Opening of Parliament is an annual event held usually in October or November that marks the commencement of a session of the Parliament A stock character is one which relies heavily on cultural types or names for his or her personality manner of speech and other characteristics The Western is a fiction Genre seen in Film, Television, Radio, Literature, Painting and other Visual arts. Thus, "outlaw" is still commonly used to mean those violating the law[4] or, by extension, those living that lifestyle, whether actual criminals evading the law or those merely opposed to "law-and-order" notions of conformity and authority (such as the "outlaw country" music movement in the 1970s). Outlaw country was a significant trend in Country music during the late 1960s and the 1970s (and even into the 1980s in some cases commonly referred to as The Outlaw

Contents

A feature of older legal systems

In British common law, an outlaw was a person who had defied the laws of the realm, by such acts as ignoring a summons to court, or fleeing instead of appearing to plead when charged with a crime. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Common law refers to law and the corresponding legal system developed through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive A summons (also in Britain known as a claim form) is a legal document issued by a court (a judicial summons) or by an administrative agency of government (an In the sociological field, crime is the breach of a rule or Law for which some governing authority or force may ultimately prescribe a Punishment In the earlier law of Anglo-Saxon England, outlawry was also declared when a person committed a homicide and could not pay the weregild, the blood-money, due to the victim's kin. The History of Anglo-Saxon England covers the history of Early medieval England from the end of Roman Britain and the establishment of Anglo-Saxon List of countries by homicide rate Homicide ( Latin homicidium, homo human being + caedere to cut kill refers to the act of killing another Weregeld (alternative spellings wergild, wergeld, weregeld, etc Outlawry also existed in other legal codes of the time, such as the ancient Norse and Icelandic legal code. Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland ( ( Ísland or Lýðveldið Ísland ( These societies did not have any police force or prisons and criminal sentences were therefore restricted to either fines or outlawry.

To be declared an outlaw was to suffer a form of civil or social[5] death. Civil death is a term that refers to the loss of all or almost all Civil rights by a person due to a conviction for a Felony (a crime punishable with more than a year's Social death is a term used to describe the condition of people not accepted as fully human by wider society 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. At law an accomplice is a person who actively participates in the commission of a Crime, even though they take no part in the actual Criminal offence. An outlaw might be killed with impunity; and it was not only lawful but meritorious to kill a thief flying from justice — to do so was not murder. Murder is the unlawful killing of another human person with Malice aforethought, as defined in Common Law countries A man who slew a thief was expected to declare the fact without delay, otherwise the dead man’s kindred might clear his name by their oath and require the slayer to pay weregild as for a true man[6] Because the outlaw has defied civil society, that society was quit of any obligations to the outlaw —outlaws had no civil rights, could not sue in any court on any cause of action, though they were themselves personally liable.

In the context of criminal law, outlawry faded not so much by legal changes as by the greater population density of the country, which made it harder for wanted fugitives to evade capture; and by the international adoption of extradition pacts. The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different Jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential Extradition is the official process by which one nation or state requests and obtains from another nation or state the surrender of a suspected or convicted criminal In the civil context, outlawry became obsolescent in civil procedure by reforms that no longer required summoned defendants to appear and plead. Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the process that Courts will follow when hearing cases of a civil nature (a " Civil action " as opposed to A defendant or defender ( Δ in Legal shorthand) is any party who is required to answer the Complaint of a Plaintiff Still, the possibility of being declared an outlaw for derelictions of civil duty continued to exist in English law until 1879 and in Scots law until the late 1940s. Civil law, as opposed to Criminal law, refers to that branch of Law dealing with disputes between Individuals and/or Organizations, in which Scots law is a unique legal system with an ancient basis in Roman law. The Third Reich made extensive use of the concept. [7] Prior to the Nuremberg Trials, the British jurist Lord Chancellor Lord Simon attempted to resurrect the concept of outlawry in order to provide for summary executions of captured Nazi war criminals. The Nuremberg Trials were a series of trials most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political military and economic leadership of Nazi Germany after The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor is a senior and important functionary in the Government of the United Kingdom. John Allsebrook Simon 1st Viscount Simon GCSI GCVO OBE PC ( 28 February 1873 &ndash 11 January 1954 Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German War crimes are "violations of the laws or customs of war" including but not limited to "murder the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied Although Simon's point of view was supported by Winston Churchill, American and Soviet attorneys insisted on a trial, and he was thus overruled. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC, PC (Can ( 30 November 1874 .

Hobsbawm's Bandits

The colloquial sense of an outlaw as bandit or brigand is the subject of a colourful monograph by Eric Hobsbawm[8]. According to Hobsbawm

The point about social bandits is that they are peasant outlaws whom the lord and state regard as criminals, but who remain within peasant society, and are considered by their people as heroes, as champions, avengers, fighters for justice, perhaps even leaders of liberation, and in any case as men to be admired, helped and supported. This relation between the ordinary peasant and the rebel, outlaw and robber is what makes social banditry interesting and significant. . . . . . . . . . . Social banditry of this kind is one of the most universal social phenomena known to history.

Hobsbawm's book discusses the bandit as a symbol, and mediated idea, and many of the outlaws he refers to, such as Ned Kelly, Mr. Dick Turpin, and Billy the Kid, are also listed below. .

Famous outlaws

The stereotype owes a great deal to English folklore precedents, in the tales of Robin Hood and of gallant highwaymen. A stereotype (from Greek: stereo + týpos = "solid impression" is a generalized perception of first impressions behaviors presumed by a group England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland History The concept of folklore developed as part of the 19th century ideology of Romantic nationalism, leading to the reshaping of oral traditions to serve modern ideological Robin Hood is an archetypal figure in English folklore, whose story originates from medieval times but who remains significant in popular culture where The word highwayman is first attested from the year 1617 The term "highwayman" is mainly applied to robbers who travelled on horseback as opposed to those who robbed on foot But outlawry was once a term of art in the law, and one of the harshest judgments that could be pronounced on anyone's head. Technical terminology is the specialized Vocabulary of a field Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society In non-legal contexts a judgment is a balanced weighing up of evidence preparatory to making a decision

The outlaw is familiar to contemporary readers as an archetype in Western movies, depicting the lawless expansionism period of the United States in the late 19th century. The Western is a fiction Genre seen in Film, Television, Radio, Literature, Painting and other Visual arts. In general expansionism consists of expansionist policies While some have linked the term to promoting Economic growth (in contrast to no growth / Sustainable policies The Western outlaw is typically a criminal who operates from a base in the wilderness, and opposes, attacks or disrupts the fragile institutions of new settlements. In the sociological field, crime is the breach of a rule or Law for which some governing authority or force may ultimately prescribe a Punishment Wilderness is generally defined as a Natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by Human activity By the time of the Western frontier, many jurisdictions had abolished the process of outlawry, and the term was used in its more popular meaning.

American Western

See also: List of Western Outlaws

American Great Depression

Argentinian

See also: Rural Bandits

Australian

British

East Asian

Irish

Italian

Middle Eastern and Indian

Punjabi

Tamil

Canadian

German

Norse

Russian

Spanish

Turkish

New Zealander

Serbian

Others

See also

References

[2]

  1. ^ Black's Law Dictionary at 1255 (4th ed. A vigilante is a person who ignores Due process of law and enacts their own form of Justice in response to a perception of insufficient response by the Robbery is the Crime of seizing Property through Violence or Intimidation. The term robber baron (Raubritter dates back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries originally referring to certain Feudal Lords Piracy is Robbery committed at sea or sometimes on shore without a commission from a sovereign Nation (as distinct from Privateering This article refers to the type of pirate For other uses see Buccaneer (disambiguation The buccaneers were Pirates who attacked The word highwayman is first attested from the year 1617 The term "highwayman" is mainly applied to robbers who travelled on horseback as opposed to those who robbed on foot Hajduk (or haiduk, haiduc, hayduck, hayduk) is a term most commonly referring to Outlaws highwaymen or Freedom fighters The Uskoci ( Pronounced: "uskoczy" meaning "Uskoks" Singular: Uskok) were Croatian Habsburg soldiers that inhabited Brigandage refers to the life and practice of brigands Highway robbery and Plunder. A motorcycle club (MC is an organized club of dedicated Motorcyclists who join together for Camaraderie, strength of numbers companionship education rider training Social bandit or social crime is a term invented by the historian Eric Hobsbawm in his 1965 classic study of popular forms of resistance Primitive Rebels The term shanlin 山林 means literally "mountain and forest" in Chinese and was frequently used to describe Bandits in Manchuria from the time of the The word Dacoity is the anglicized version of the Indian word dakaitee (डकैती or ڈکیتی or ডাকাতি which comes from A feud (ˈfjuːd (referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud or vendetta) is a long-running argument or fight between parties&mdashoften through Guilt The Mafia (also known as Cosa Nostra) is a Sicilian Criminal Secret society which is believed to have first developed in the mid-19th century Street Gangs in the United States are usually portrayed by the media as gun-toting youths engaged in disputes over territory and disrespect Klephts ( Greek κλέφτης, pl κλέφτες - kleftis, kleftes, which originally meant just "thieves" 1951), citing 22 Viner, Abr. 316.
  2. ^ Sara M. Pons-Sanz, Norse-Derived Vocabulary in Late Old English Texts: Wulfstan's Works, a Case Study, North-Western European Language Evolution, Supplement, 22 (Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark, 2007), p. 80.
  3. ^ Black's Law Dictionary at 1255 (4th ed. 1951), and citations therein.
  4. ^ Black's Law Dictionary at 1255 (4th ed. 1951), citing Oliveros v. Henderson, 116 S. C. 77, 106 S. E. 855, 859.
  5. ^ Zygmunt Bauman, "Modernity and Holocaust".
  6. ^ F. Pollock and F. W. Maitland, The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I (1895, 2nd. ed. , Cambridge, 1898, reprinted 1968).
  7. ^ Shirer,"The Third Reich. "
  8. ^ Bandits, E J Hobsbawm, pelican 1972
  9. ^ BBC Inside Out - Highwaymen

Dictionary

outlaw

-noun

  1. A fugitive from the law.
  2. A person who is excluded from normal legal rights.
  3. A person who operates outside established norms.
  4. A wild horse.

-verb

  1. To declare illegal
  2. To place a ban under
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