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My understanding is that outlaws were still subject to the law in the UK …
English Common Law had the “writ of outlawry” and the subject was deprived of all legal rights, being outside the “law”, but others could kill him on sight as if he were a wolf or other wild animal.
The concept of an “outlaw” goes at least as far back as ancient Rome and was used in England until something like 1869. It held on in Scotland as part of Civil Law until somewhere in the 1940s. It was also present in France, Germany, and several Nordic countries.
This isn’t just a US thing.
Yes…because they are “Outside the Law”. An Outlaw is neither subject to nor protected by the law.
It’s that last part that so many people in here are missing. If the Elongated Muskrat were declared an “outlaw” you could kick in his front door, drag him out of bed, load him onto a catapult and fire him into the sun and the legal apparatus would not, nay could not, do anything about it.
People need to understand how deeply that “no legal process to submit to” goes. The “outlaw” isn’t subject to the law but neither is anyone else as it relates to them.