outlaw

In the modern sense of the term, a notorious criminal, especially when a fugitive from the law. At common law, one made defendant in an outlawry proceeding or judicially declared to be an outlaw in a regular proceeding brought for the purpose of such declaration. Dale County v Gunter, 46 Ala 118, 140. An outlaw is one who is put out of the law; that is, deprived of its benefits and protection. In earlier times he was called a friendless man; one who could not, by law, have a friend. An outlaw was said caput genere lupinum, by which it was meant, that any one might knock him on the head as a wolf, in case he would not surrender himself peaceably when taken. He forfeited everything he had, whether it was in right or possession. All obligations and contracts were dissolved. But in modern times the word has a much less stringent meaning, importing, however, the forfeiture of property and civil rights. Drew v Drew, 37 Me 389, 391.