Though the judgment of outlawry is obsolete, romanticised outlaws became stock characters in several fictional settings.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