Entertainment / Literature / Outlaw: An individual determined by a council vote to be an outlaw at a thing or an althing was considered outside the normal bounds of kinship relations in Iceland. He was considered outside the law (hence the term), and anyone who met him would be allowed to kill him or rob him without repercussions from the rest of the Viking community. Since the medieval government of Iceland did not have an official bureaucracy of police, sherrifs, or gendarmerie, much less a national army to enforce its law, the declaration of outlaw status was a common punishment. It allowed an entire community to take the law in its own hands, in its own time. Many of the major heroes in Icelandic sagas are outlaws or become outlaws over the course of the saga.
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Outlaw Verb Synonyms: forbid, disallow, ban, interdict, bar, exclude, prohibit, proscribe
Outlaw Adjective Synonyms: criminal, gangster, robber, desperado, bandit, highwayman, brigand, footpad, picaroon, pirate, fugitive (from justice or the law), renegade, road-agent
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