CAPUT GERAT LUPINUM

caput gerat lupinum (kap-<<schwa>>t jeer-<<schwa>>t loo-pI-n<<schwa>>m). [Latin “let him bear the head of a wolf”] Hist. An outlawed felon considered a pariah — a lone wolf — open to attack by anyone. See OUT-LAWRY.

“He who breaks the law has gone to war with the community; the community goes to war with him. It is the right and duty of every man to pursue him, to ravage his land, to burn his house, to hunt him down like a wild beast and slay him; for a wild beast he is; not merely is he a ‘friendless man,’ he is a wolf….Caput gerat lupinum — in these words the court decreed outlawry.” 2 Frederick Pollock & Frederic W. Maitland, The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I 449 (2d ed. 1899). [Blacks Law 8th]