What does outlawry mean?
Outlawry means the condition of being declared an outlaw or being excluded from the protection of the law. In historical legal systems, a formal sentence of outlawry could withdraw the authority of the state from a person, leaving them vulnerable to pursuit and the loss of property or civil rights. The term is now more often encountered in historical writing, literature, and figurative political language than in everyday speech. References to political outlawry suggest that a person or group has been denied lawful recognition or protection, although this modern sense does not normally imply a literal criminal sentence. Outlawry is a useful word because it captures not merely serious criminality but the deliberate removal of someone's legal standing. Its associations with exile, pursuit, and the collapse of customary protections make it especially evocative in historical and political contexts.
nounThe condition or status of being declared an outlaw and placed outside the protection of the law. Historically, it also referred to the legal process or sentence by which a person was declared an outlaw.
- The condition or status of being an outlaw, especially a person outside the protection of the law.
- The act or legal process of declaring a person an outlaw.
"The king sentenced the rebel to outlawry, stripping him of his legal rights and property."
"The evidence against him was so circumstantial that he lived under a shadow of outlawry."
"The court used outlawry to punish prominent rebels by withdrawing the Crown's protection from them."
The plural is rare because outlawry is normally used as an uncountable noun.
"The chronicles record several outlawries imposed for rebellion."
To be declared an outlaw was once a formal sentence: the law stopped protecting you, and your enemies gained the right to pursue you without committing murder.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does outlawry come from?
Outlawry is formed from outlaw plus the suffix -ry, indicating a condition, action, or state. Outlaw itself comes from Old English ūtlaga, literally an “out-law,” and developed through Middle English into its modern legal and historical senses. The underlying element law has relatives in English such as lawful, lawless, and lawman, while outlawry specifically names the state or legal procedure of placing someone beyond the law.
How outlawry is actually used
The word is chiefly formal, historical, or literary. In modern figurative use, especially the phrase political outlawry, it can describe the deliberate exclusion of a person or group from legitimate political, legal, or social recognition.
Easily confused with outlawry
An outlaw is a person who has been excluded from the protection of the law, whereas outlawry is the condition or legal process of being declared an outlaw.