575° 
being beyond the feas, muft be under- 
food of the party’s being abroad, with- 
eut having gone to avoid the procefs of 
she law ; for if a man commit a murder, 
er other felony, and betore he can be 
apprehended, or an indictment found, 
Teave the realm, to avoid being brought 
to juftice, he may be outlawed, notwith- 
ftanding his being beyond the feas, as 
was the cafe of Mr. England; or, if 
having entered an appearance to a pro- 
fecution for an inferior offence, he leave 
the kingdom, and be afterwards con- 
wiéted in his abfence, yet he may be 
outlawed on the conviction, as was the 
eafe of Mr. Wilkes, and Mr. Perry. 
In the time of Alfred, and from thence 
till Jong after the conqueft, no man 
could be outlawed but for treafon or fe- 
Jony, the punifhment of which was death: 
an outlaw was faid to bear caput lupinum, 
or a wolf’s head, becaufe any man might 
kill him, as being out of the proteétion 
of the king’s laws; as he might kill a 
wolf, which was then efteemed the mof . 
pernicious animal that infefted the king- 
dom. It being, therefore, not only law- 
ful, but meritorious, to kill an outlaw, 
at cannot be wondered at, that it was 
then common for outlaws to flee to the 
woods for fhelter; fome of whom, as 
Robin Hood, and others, .have tranf- 
mitted their names to pofterity by their 
audacious exploits. But, in the begin- 
ning of the reign of Edward III, it was 
refolved, ‘‘ that for avoiding inhumanity, 
and the fhedding of Chriftian blood, it 
fhould not be lawful for any man but 
the fheriff to put an outlaw to death, 
though it were for felony ;” and if any 
‘ man were to do fo at this day, he would 
be guilty of murder, unlefs it were in 
the endeavour to apprehend the outlaw : 
for any perfon may arreft an outlaw ona 
criminal profecution, either of his own 
head, or by writ, or warrant of caps 
tidagutum, in order to bring him to ex- 
ecution. By the ft. of 13 Ed.I, ff. 1, 
e. 13, procets of Outlawry is given againft 
accountants who ihall have been found 
an arrear before auditors, aligned in ac- 
tion of account, if they flee, and it be 
returned to the fheriff that they c-nnot 
be found. 
_ From Braéton, who lived in the reign 
of Edward J, we learn, that it was or- 
dained that in all ations of tre{pafs wrth 
force aad arms, procefs of Outlawry fhould 
hie. 
By f&. 18, Ed. IT, &. 1, it Is accor- 
ded, “That of them which be or have 
been receivers of the king's money, or 
Law Report.—Ontlawry 
of his wools which they take of the 
pecple, and the fame carry away OF, 
detain; fo that our fovereign lord the 
king may not be thereof ferved; and 
of tnem which bring wools to the parts 
beyond the fea, without being coc- 
ketted, or paying cuftom or {ubfidy 
whereto they be affefled; and of cul= 
tomers and finders, which fuffer the 
fame to the king’s damages of lay mi- 
nifters which receive the king’s mo- 
ney, and the fame retain; and alfo for 
confpirators, confederators, and main~ 
tainers of falfe quarrels; and alfo of 
them that bring routs in the prefence 
of the juftices, or other the king’s mi- 
nifters, or elfewhere in the counties, in 
affray of the people, fo that the law. 
may not be done, as well of them which 
bring the fame, as of them which come 
in their company, or as of them which 
bring falfe money in deceipt of the peo- 
ple: againft all thofe, in cafe they may not 
be found, or brought in to anfwer, by at- 
tachment or diftrefs, for the profit of our 
fovereign lord the king, the eazgeut fhall 
be given and fued, and aot agai: an- 
other.” Ee T . 
And, by. ft. 18, Ed. IIT, ft. 2;.c. 5, it 
is enacted, ‘* That no exigent {hall from 
thenceforth go out, in cafe where a man 
is indiéted of tre/pafs, unlefs-it be againft 
the peace, or of things which be contained 
in the declaration made in this cafe at the 
laft parliament holden at Weftminfter:”’ 
By which is meant the preceding ftatute. 
Whether procefs of Outlawry lay in 
cafes of mifdemeanour, where there was 
no actual force or breach of the peace, 
was not folemnly decided till the cafe of 
Mr. Wilkes. In that cafe, after, great 
deliberation, Lord Mansfield, with the 
concurrence of the reft of the court of 
King’s-Bench, declared, that the offen- 
ces tor which Mr. Wilkes was profecu- 
ted, and the proceedings upon them, 
were at the common law; that the faz 
tutes which gave procefs of Outlawry in 
certain cafes, and reftriéted its iffuimg in 
others, unlefs under certain circumftan- 
ces, did not affect the queftion before the 
court: the procefs, he faid, in that cafe, 
was warranted by the common law, or 
not at all; afwal ferce or violence did, 
not appear to be the criterion on which 
the procefs of Outlawry depended; the 
greatnefs of the crime, and the feverity 
of the punifhment, feemed to be the ma- 
terial crcumitances attended to in an- 
cient times; felony did nor neceflarily 
imply or convey the idea of actual out- 
rage; grand larceny being in its demi 
tiga, 
bi 
[Auge 
