outside the law

idiom

1

: not agreeing with the law : illegal

actions that may have been outside the law

2

: in an illegal way

Investigators were unable to prove that the business was operating outside the law.

Examples of outside the law in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Like Jack Reacher, whose creator Lee Child has praised Petrie's character, Ash is a knight errant who operates outside the law but with a code of honor. —Journal Sentinel, 31 Jan. 2024

There’s also a huge obstacle outside the law: Therapy is rarely free, and paying for it or submitting insurance claims often requires parental support. —Michael Elsen-Rooney, Fortune, 11 Feb. 2024

But the bottleneck in the permit process has left many operating outside the law and vulnerable to exploitative schemes, even as the city has increased policing of vendors. —Stefanos Chen, New York Times, 13 Oct. 2023

And going outside the law would block an independent Scotland’s path toward membership of the European Union, the S.N.P.’s objective. —Stephen Castle, New York Times, 12 June 2023

Cosby’s most memorable protagonists — from car thieves to fathers avenging their sons’ murders — were often acting outside the law after the law had proved inadequate to the task. —Paula L. Woods, Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2023

Recently, Trump, his family and his attorneys have unleashed a torrent of attacks on James, painting her as a partisan prosecutor acting outside the law in a series of media appearances and a court filing. —Washington Post, 19 Jan. 2022

Cosby’s most memorable protagonists — from car thieves to fathers avenging their sons’ murders — were often acting outside the law after the law had proved inadequate to the task. —Paula L. Woods, Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2023

Wallace garnered more than 400 signatures and many critical messages from students, alumni and faculty members from both within and outside the law school. —Dan McLaughlin, National Review, 5 June 2021