Roman (non-)combatants / insurgents

[Kai]

NOTE: I am not responsible for the thread title, the the following post was originally an answer to a question about plural of latro. Later it all ... developed into a thread of its own.
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Latrones in the Nominative plural. However you should be careful with this term, and also with the term insurgent for that matter. Latrones can be the opposite to lawful enemy soldiers (justi hostes), but insurgents can very well be lawful. Also latro can simply mean merc.
I do not know if ancient Roman law included something like 'illegal combatants'. Please note modern law does not (that is an idea of the previous US gov). There are only combatants and civilians, who are committing crimes should they engage in combat for other reasons than self defense or helping others. Despite committing crimes they still enjoy every protection of a civilian. This is actually one of thousands of reasons why modern states have problemes coping with the current kind of warfare. (as far as I understood my lessons)