Outlawry

views updated Jun 11 2018

482. Outlawry (See also Highwaymen, Thievery.)

  1. Bass, Sam (18511878) train robber and all-around desperado. [Am. Hist.: NCE, 244]
  2. Billy the Kid (William H. Bonney, 18591881) infamous cold-blooded killer. [Am. Hist.: Flexner, 30]
  3. Bonnie and Clyde (Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow) bank robbers and killers (1930s). [Am. Hist.: Worth, 35]
  4. Cassidy, Butch, and the Sundance Kid (Henry Brown) (fl. late 19th century) Western outlaws made famous by popular film. [Am. Hist. and Am. Cinema: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Halliwell, 116]
  5. Dalton gang bank robbers of late 1800s; killed in shootout (1892). [Am. Hist.: Flexner, 1516]
  6. Dillinger, John (19021934) murderous gunslinging bank robber of 1930s. [Am. Hist.: Flexner, 290]
  7. Grettir Viking adventurer, outlawed for his ruthless slayings. [Icelandic Lit.: Grettir the Strong in Magill I, 335]
  8. Holliday, Doc (fl. late 19th century) outlaw who helped Wyatt Earp fight the Clanton gang (1881). [Am. Hist.: Misc.]
  9. James, Jesse (18471882) romanticized train and bank robber. [Am. Hist.: Flexner, 219]
  10. Ringo, Johnny (fl. late 19th century) notorious outlaw and gunfighter in the Southwest. [Am. Hist.: Misc.]
  11. Rob Roy (Robert MacGregor, 16711734) Scottish Highland outlaw remembered in Sir Walter Scotts novel Rob Roy (1818 ). [Scottish Hist.: EB, VIII: 619]
  12. Robin Hood (13th century) legendary outlaw of England who robbed the rich to help the poor. [Br. Hist.: EB, VIII: 615616]
  13. Turpin, Dick (17061739) English outlaw who robbed travelers on the road from London to Oxford. [Br. Hist.: WB, 19: 425]
  14. Villa, Pancho (18781923) notorious Mexican bandit and revolutionary. [Mex. Hist.: EB, X: 435436 ]

Outlawry

views updated May 18 2018

OUTLAWRY

A declaration under oldenglish lawby which a person found incontempton a civil or criminal process was considered an outlaw—that is, someone who is beyond the protection or assistance of the law.

During the Anglo-Saxon period of English history, a person who committed certain crimes lost whatever protection he or she had under the law, forfeited whatever property he or she owned, and could be killed by anyone. If the crime committed was treason or a felony, a declaration of outlawry was tantamount to a conviction and attainder. Outlawry for a misdemeanor did not, however, amount to a conviction for the offense. The Norman Conquest led to significant changes in the law governing outlawry, eventually leading to its abolition.

outlawry

views updated Jun 27 2018

outlawry originated as the community's way of dealing with a violent or dangerous wrongdoer. A declaration of outlawry deprived the outlaw of the protection of the king and the law; his property was forfeit to the king and he could be killed with impunity. By the 12th cent. outlawry had become a part of legal process as a sanction to compel a person to submit to the court's authority, especially in actions of trespass before the king's courts, and it was extended through this action to other civil actions. Outlawry was formally abolished in 1879 in civil cases. It was never formally abolished in criminal matters, though it became obsolete.

Maureen Mulholland