Lawless means not controlled by any law. A lawless region, lawless behaviour, lawless and violent.
It describes places where law does not reach as well as people who ignore it, and the first is the stronger use — a lawless border area is a real category in reporting. It is not the same as unlawful, which means against the law rather than beyond it. Note that -less means without, as always.
1adjectivelawlessNot controlled by any law.
“After the government collapsed, the region became lawless, and armed gangs controlled the roads.”
lawless is a quality of being beyond law.
Middle English laweles is law plus -less. Law itself comes from Old Norse and means something laid down.
Middle English
laweles
English, today
lawless
From Middle English laweles. From Middle English laweles; equivalent to law + -less. Cognate with Danish lovløs (“lawless”), Swedish laglös (“lawless”), Norwegian lovløs (“lawless”), Icelandic löglaus (“lawless”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA