outlaw

Western American outlaw as depicted in The Great Train Robbery movie of 1903

An outlaw or bandit is a person living the lifestyle of outlawry; the word literally means "outside the law".^[1]

In the common law of England, a "Writ of Outlawry" declared the subject to be "Caput gerat lupinum" (that is, "Let his be a wolf's head"), and it followed not only that, since the subject was no longer human, he had no legal rights, but also that he could be killed on sight as if a wolf or wild animal. Outlawry was thus one of the harshest penalties in the legal system, since the outlaw could not use the law to protect himself if needed, such as from mob justice, and could be robbed or even murdered with impunity.^[2]

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. This was particularly so in the United States, where outlaws were popular subjects of newspaper coverage and stories in the 19th century, and 20th century fiction and Western movies. Thus, "outlaw" is still commonly used to mean those violating the law^[3] 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).

A feature of older legal systems

In English 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. 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, that was due to the victim's kin.

Outlawry also existed in other legal codes of the time, such as the ancient Norse and Icelandic legal code. 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^[4] 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.

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. 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^[5]. 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. In the civil context, outlawry became obsolescent in civil procedure by reforms that no longer required summoned defendants to appear and plead.

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. The Third Reich made extensive use of the concept.^[6] 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. Although Simon's point of view was supported by Winston Churchill, American and Soviet attorneys insisted on a trial, and he was thus overruled.

Hobsbawm's Bandits

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. The colloquial sense of an outlaw as bandit or brigand is the subject of a monograph by British author Eric Hobsbawm:^[7]. 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.

Famous outlaws

La cueva del Gato (The cave of the Cat), 1860 painting by Manuel Barrón y Carrillo depicting the hideout of the Andalusian bandolero of Spain

The stereotype owes a great deal to English folklore precedents, in the tales of Robin Hood and of gallant highwaymen. 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.

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 outlaw is typically a criminal who operates from a base in the wilderness, and opposes, attacks or disrupts the fragile institutions of new settlements. 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

• Big Nose George
• Joaquin Murietta
• Tom Bell
• The Sundance Kid
• William Quantrill
• Jim Miller
• Sam Bass
• Kid Curry
• Butch Cassidy
• Billy the Kid
• John Wesley Hardin
• Jesse James
• Frank James
• Cole Younger
• Marlow Brothers
• Belle Starr
• Black Jack
• Black Bart
• John Daly
• Tiburcio Vasquez
• Reno Gang
• Rufus Buck Gang
• Dalton Gang
• The Clantons, "Cowboys"
• Annie Oakley - Although erroneously alleged in cocaine trafficking, did engage in "underground" revolutions for women's rights. Both considered to fit the legend (or fact) of outlaw status.

Argentinian

• Juan Bautista Bailoretto
• Mate Cocido (Segundo David Peralta)
• Sydney Canning

Australian

In Australia two gangs of bushrangers have been made outlaws - that is they were declared to have no legal rights and anybody was empowered to shoot them without the need for an arrest followed by a trial.

• Ben Hall - the New South Wales colonial government passed a law in 1865 which outlawed the gang (Hall, John Gilbert and John Dunn) and made it possible for anyone to shoot them. There was no need for the outlaws to be arrested and for there to be a trial.^[8]
• Ned Kelly - The Victorian colonial government passed a law on 30 October 1878 to make the Kelly gang outlaws: they no longer had any legal rights and they could be shot by anyone. The law was modelled on the 1865 legislation passed against the gang of Ben Hall. As well as Ned Kelly, his brother Dan Kelly was subject to the warrant as well as Joe Byrne and Steve Hart.^[9]
• Martin Cash^{[citation needed]}
• Frederick Wordsworth Ward also known as Captain Thunderbolt^{[citation needed]}
• Dan Morgan^{[citation needed]}
• Jack the Rammer^{[citation needed]}
• Mary Ann Bugg^{[citation needed]}
• Moondyne Joe^{[citation needed]}
• William Westwood also known as Jackey Jackey^{[citation needed]}

British

• Hereward the Wake - Saxon outlaw during the Norman conquest of England
• John Nevison - 17th century highwayman^[10]
• Dick Turpin - 18th century highwayman
• James MacLaine - Scottish highwayman
• William Plunkett - English highwayman
• Tom King - English highwayman
• Sawney Beane - Scottish outlaw
• Edgar the Outlaw - English king
• Robin Hood - Legendary Medieval English outlaw
• Eustace Folville - English outlaw and soldier
• Adam the Leper - Fourteenth-century English gang-leader
• Rob Roy MacGregor - Scottish Chieftain.
• Twm Siôn Cati - Welsh Outlaw from Tregaron in Tudor times, ended up mayor of Brecon
• James Hind - 17th century highwayman
• John Clavell - English highwayman, author, and lawyer
• Claude Duval - French-born highwayman in England
• John Wilkes - 18th century English politician

Mexican

• Doroteo Arango Arambula - Better known as Pancho Villa, a general in the Mexican Revolution,

Croatian

• Mijat Tomić - hajduk
• Andrijica Šimić
• Ivan Bušić Roša -hajduk

East Asian

• Zhang Xianzhong - nicknamed Yellow Tiger, was a Chinese bandit and rebel leader who conquered Sichuan Province in the middle of the 17th century.
• Lao Pie-fang - known as Hun-hutze (red beard), was a bandit chieftain in western Liaoning.
• Wang Delin - bandit, soldier and leader of the National Salvation Army resisting the Japanese pacification of Manchukuo.
• Song Jiang - Historical Chinese outlaw immortalised in the classic Water Margin
• Hong Gildong - Historical/legendary Korean outlaw
• Ishikawa Goemon - Legendary Japanese thief featured in kabuki plays
• Nezumi Kozō - Japanese thief
• Wong Fei Hung - Famous Chinese herbalist considered an outlaw hero in Chinese folklore
• Saigō Takamori - the last true Samurai, he led the Satsuma Rebellion

Irish

• Grace O'Malley
• Redmond O'Hanlon
• Neesy O'Haughan
• Tiger Roche
• Captain Gallagher
• Sean Kelly

Italian

• Carmine Crocco (1830-1905) - Italian bandit and folk hero
• Salvatore Giuliano (1922-1950) - Sicilian bandit and separatist
• Giuseppe Musolino (1876-1956) - Calabrian outlaw and folk hero
• Nicola Napolitano (1838-1863) - Italian bandit
• Gaspare Pisciotta (1924-1954) - Sicilian bandit and separatist
• Rinaldo Rinaldini - Italian outlaw and folk hero
• Marco Sciarra - famous Neapolitan brigand chief
• Francesco Paolo Varsallona - notorious Sicilian bandit leader

Central Asian

• Bahti Tajik - most famous bandit chief in Tajikistan, active before World War I.^[11]

Middle Eastern and Indian

• Serder ibn Tatar - famous highwayman of Khurasan who repented and traveled in search of knowledge. He is revered by Muslims as a major figure of early Sufism.
• Krasavchik Oybak - rose from a bandit to the rule of much of modern Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
• Simko Shikak - Kurdish bandit and rebel leader^[12]
• Nirushan Tharmachandran - famous Bandit of southern Asia who was never caught by police. Stopped killing in 1930 and was never heard from again. Recent studies found that he killed under the code name, Pundai.
• Dulla Bhatti - was a Punjabi who led a rebellion against the Mughal emperor Akbar. His act of helping a poor peasant's daughter to get married led to a famous folk take which is still recited every year on the festival of Lohri by Punjabis.
• Veerappan, South India's most famous bandit, Elephant poacher, sandalwood smuggler
• Phoolan Devi - one of India's most famous dacoits ("armed robber").^[13]
• Shiv Kumar Patel - led one of the few remaining bands of outlaws that have roamed central India for centuries.^[14]
• Hashshashin - militant Ismaili Muslim sect, active from the 8th to the 14th centuries.
• Thuggee - Indian network of secret fraternities engaged in murdering and robbing travellers.^[15]

Canadian

• Simon Gunanoot
• Slumach
• Allan McLean
• Bill Miner
• Bevan Gang - Train robbers during the early years of CN's (Canadien National) Transcontinental Railroad.

German

• Eppelein von Gailingen
• Johannes Bückler, nicknamed Schinderhannes
• Lips Tullian
• Nickel List
• Matthias Klostermayr, aka Bavarian Hiasl, aka Hiasl of Bavaria, aka der Bayerische Hiasl, aka da Boarische Hiasl
• Martin Luther was outlawed in 1521 with the Edict of Worms^[16]

Norse

• Erik the Red

Icelandic

• Gísli Súrsson
• Grettir Ásmundarson

Russian

• Nightingale the Robber - myth
• Yermak Timofeyevich - 16th century Cossack outlaw and explorer
• Stenka Razin - Cossack leader
• Yemelyan Pugachov - pretender to the Russian throne

Spanish

• Perot Rocaguinarda, Catalan bandit
• Sanchicorrota, Navarrese late Middle Age bandit
• El Tempranillo, Andalusian bandolero
• El Pernales, Andalusian bandolero

Turkish

• İnce Memed, a legendary fictional character by Yaşar Kemal
• Atçalı Kel Mehmet Efe, an outlaw who led a local revolt against Ottoman Empire
• Çakırcalı Mehmet Efe, one of the most powerful outlaws of late Ottoman era

New Zealander

• James Mckenzie Shepherd, drover, sheep rustler [1]
• Te Kooti Maori warrior & leader

Serbian

• Jovo Stanisavljevic Caruga, Serb
• Joco Udmanic, Serb

Others

• Tadas Blinda (Lithuanian bandit)
• Alexander Friedman (German bandit)
• Michael Monafis (Greek outlaw)
• Lampião (Brazil)
• Jack the Robber (Roma)
• Juraj Jánošík (Slovakia)
• Václav Babinský (Czech outlaw)
• Johann Georg Grasel (Moravia)
• Michael Labedzki (Polish rebel leader and bandit)
• Sobri Jóska (Hungarian highwayman)
• Rózsa Sándor (the most famous Hungarian highwayman)
• Louis Dominique Cartouche (famous French bandit)
• Heraclio Bernal (Mexican bandit)
• Cercyon (Greek), a bandit killed by Theseus
• Ibrahim Ag Bahanga, Tuareg bandit and rebel leader^[17]
• Kassa Hailu, later Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia
• Napoleon by the coalition in Vienna
• When the government of the First Spanish Republic was unable to reduce the Cantonalist rebellion centered in Cartagena, Spain, the Cartagena fleet was declared piratic, allowing any nation to prey on it.
• Toño Bicicleta (Bicycle Tony), A notorious bicycle-riding Puerto Rican criminal who became an element of local folklore.
• Martin Luther was declared an outlaw by the Diet of Worms
• Nelson Mandela

See also

References