Though the judgment of outlawry is obsolete, romanticised outlaws became stock characters in several fictional settings.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 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).
The colloquial sense of an outlaw as bandit or brigand is the subject of a monograph by British author Eric Hobsbawm:. 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.
List of famous outlaws
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 Americans
American Western
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.
Argentinian
- Juan Bautista Bailoretto
- Juan Moreira
- Mate Cocido (Segundo David Peralta)
Brazilian
Cangaceiros
- Lampião â€" Brazilian outlaw who led the Cangaços, a band of feared marauders and outlaws who terrorized Northeastern Brazil during the 1920â€"1930's.
Canadian
- Simon Gunanoot
- Slumach
- Bill Miner
- Ken Leishman â€" In 1966 he managed to hijack $383,497 worth of gold from the Winnipeg International Airport, amounting to the largest gold heist in Canadian history.
Mexican
- Doroteo Arango Arámbula â€" Better known as Pancho Villa, a general in the Mexican Revolution
- Jesás Salgado â€" led an agrarian revolt in the state of Guerrero during the Mexican Revolution
- Heraclio Bernal, also known as the "Thunderbolt of Sinaloa"
- Jesús Negrete, better known as the El Tigre de Santa Julia
- Jesús Arriaga, better known as Chucho el Roto or The Mexican Robin Hood
- Los Plateados, a famous Mexican gang that was active in the state of Morelos in the 19th century.
- JoaquÃn Murrieta, symbolized resistance against Anglo-American economic and cultural domination in the 19th century.
Panamanian
- Derienni
The Europeans
British
- Robin Hood â€" Legendary Medieval English outlaw
- Hereward the Wake â€" Saxon outlaw during the Norman conquest of England
- John Nevison â€" 17th century highwayman
- William Plunkett â€" English highwayman
- Tom King â€" fictional English highwayman
- Edgar the Outlaw â€" English king
- Eustace Folville â€" English outlaw and soldier
- Adam the Leper â€" 14th-century English gang-leader
- James Hind â€" 17th century highwayman
- John Clavell â€" English highwayman, author, and lawyer
- Claude Duval â€" French-born highwayman in England
- John Wilkes â€" 18th century English politician
- Twm Siôn Cati â€" Welsh Outlaw from Tregaron in Tudor times, ended up mayor of Brecon
- Sir William Wallace - Scottish Outlaw
- James MacLaine â€" Scottish highwayman
- Sawney Beane â€" Scottish outlaw
- The Outlaw Murray - The Outlaw of Ettrick Forest in the Scottish Borders
- Rob Roy MacGregor â€" Scottish Chieftain.
Croatian
Hajduci
- Mijat Tomić
- Andrijica Šimić
France
- Louis Dominique Bourguignon, also known as Cartouche
German
- Eppelein von Gailingen
- Frederick of Isenberg
- Hannikel
- Johannes Bückler, nicknamed Schinderhannes
- Matthias Klostermayr, aka Bavarian Hiasl, aka Hiasl of Bavaria, aka der Bayerische Hiasl, aka da Boarische Hiasl
- Mathias Kneißl
- Hans Kohlhase
- Martin Luther was outlawed in 1521 by the Edict of Worms
Greek
Klephtes
- Odysseas Androutsos
- Markos Botsaris
- Athanasios Diakos
- Geórgios Karaïskákis
- Theodoros Kolokotronis
- Nikitaras
Hungarian
- Rózsa Sándor (the most famous Hungarian highwayman)
Icelandic
- GÃsli Súrsson
- Grettir Ãsmundarson
Irish
- Grace O'Malley
- Redmond O'Hanlon
- Neesy O'Haughan
- Tiger Roche
- Captain Gallagher
- Sean Kelly
Italian
- Carmine Crocco (1830â€"1905) â€" Lucanian bandit and folk hero
- Salvatore Giuliano (1922â€"1950) â€" Sicilian bandit and separatist
- Giuseppe Musolino (1876â€"1956) â€" Calabrian outlaw and folk hero
- Ninco Nanco (1833-1864) - Lucanian bandit
- Nicola Napolitano (1838â€"1863) â€" Campanian bandit
- Gaspare Pisciotta (1924â€"1954) â€" Sicilian bandit and separatist
- Francesco Paolo Varsallona â€" Sicilian bandit leader
Norwegian
- Erik the Red
Serbian
- Jovo Stanisavljevic Caruga, Serb
Spanish
- Diego Corrientes Mateos Andalusian (1757â€"1781)
- El Guapo Andalusian (born 1546) who is reputed to be the source for part one chapter 22 of Don Quixote by Cervantes.
The Asians/Oceania
Australian
In Australia two gangs of bushrangers have been made outlaws â€" 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 â€" 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 â€" the law was essentially a bill of attainder.
- Ned Kelly â€" 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.
East Asian
- Song Jiang â€" Historical Chinese outlaw immortalised in the classic Water Margin
- Zhang Xianzhong â€" nicknamed Yellow Tiger, was a Chinese bandit and rebel leader who conquered Sichuan Province in the middle of the 17th century.
- Lao Pie-fang â€" known as Hun-hutze (red beard), was a bandit chieftain in western Liaoning.
- Wang Delin â€" bandit, soldier and leader of the National Salvation Army resisting the Japanese pacification of Manchukuo.
- Hong Gildong â€" Fictitious Korean outlaw
- Ishikawa Goemon â€" Legendary Japanese thief featured in kabuki plays
- Nezumi KozÅ â€" Japanese thief
- SaigÅ Takamori â€" the last true Samurai, he led the Satsuma Rebellion
South Asian
- Dulla Bhatti â€" 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.
- Papadu - South Indian bandit.
- Veerappan, South India's most famous bandit, Elephant poacher, sandalwood smuggler
- Phoolan Devi â€" one of India's most famous dacoits ("armed robber").
- Shiv Kumar Patel â€" led one of the few remaining bands of outlaws that have roamed central India for centuries.
- Thuggee â€" Indian network of secret fraternities engaged in murdering and robbing travellers.
Middle East
- Hashshashin â€" militant Ismaili Muslim sect, active from the 8th to the 14th centuries.
- Simko Shikak â€" Kurdish bandit and rebel leader
Russian
- Nightingale the Robber â€" myth
- Yermak Timofeyevich â€" 16th century Cossack outlaw and explorer
- Stenka Razin â€" Cossack leader
- Yemelyan Pugachov â€" pretender to the Russian throne
Turkish
- Ä°nce Memed, a legendary fictional character by YaÅŸar 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
Ukrainian
- Oleksa Dovbush
- Ustym Karmaliuk
Others
- Tadas Blinda, in Lithuania
- Juraj JánoÅ¡Ãk, in Slovakia
- Johann Georg Grasel, in Moravia
- Andrij Savka, in Lemkivshchyna; defender of the Lemkos against Polish and Hungarian nobility