An outlaw or bandit is a person living the lifestyle of outlawry; the word literally means "outside the law".
In the common law of England, a "Writ of Outlawry" made the pronouncement Caput gerat lupinum ("Let his be a wolf's head," literally "May he bear a wolfish head") with respect to its subject, using "head" to refer to the entire person (cf. "per capita") and equating that person with a wolf in the eyes of the law: Not only was the subject ...
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An outlaw or bandit is a person living the lifestyle of outlawry; the word literally means "outside the law".
In the common law of England, a "Writ of Outlawry" made the pronouncement Caput gerat lupinum ("Let his be a wolf's head," literally "May he bear a wolfish head") with respect to its subject, using "head" to refer to the entire person (cf. "per capita") and equating that person with a wolf in the eyes of the law: Not only was the subject deprived of all legal rights because the law no longer deemed him human, but others were permitted to kill him on sight as if he were a wolf or other 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, whether from mob or vigilante justice for his alleged crime or from unrelated victimization such as robbery or murder.
Though the judgment of outlawry is now obsolete (even though it inspired the pro forma Outlawries Bill which is still to this day...
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