legal, a.
(ˈliːgəl)
[ad. L. lēgālis (perh. through F. légal, recorded from 14th c.), f. lēg-, lēx law. The popular OF. representative of the L. adj. was leial, loial: see leal, loyal.]
1. a. Of or pertaining to law; falling within the province of law.
| 1529 More Dyaloge i. Wks. 161/2 Albeit the matter of the precepte is morall and the daie legall, so that it maie be chaunged, yet wil..no man thinke [etc.]. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. Introd. Pref. (1848) 29 To make use of a Legal Artifice to hinder..the Publication. 1671 Milton Samson 313 [God] hath full right to exempt Whomso it pleases him..From National obstriction, without taint Of sin, or legal debt. 1728 Veneer Sincere Penitent Pref. 7 Sharp rebukes and legal severities. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. i. 18 The rudiments of legal knowledge. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) VI. 238 A system of legal construction had been established in former cases. 1838 Thirlwall Greece IV. 135 One Menecles having raised some legal objection to the decree. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India I. 241 Debarred from the aid of the legal advisers of the state. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 452 His legal knowledge..was merely such as he had picked up. 1861 Graham Eng. Word Bk. Introd. 8 Words of Latin origin relating to legal and military affairs. 1898 Eclectic Mag. LXVII. 603 Protected..by skillful legal advice. |
¶ b. legal man: = Law Latin legalis homo, a man who has full legal rights, being neither outlawed, excommunicated, nor in any way disqualified from appearing in courts of law. So legal person.
| 1660 R. Coke Power & Subj. 183 Let the Minister of the Bishop and his Clerks come thither..with legal men of that province. 1689 S. Johnson Rem. Sherlock's Bk. 40 The next thing requisite to a Person being Commissionated is that he be a Legal Person. |
c. Belonging to or characteristic of the profession of the law.
| 1819 Byron Juan i. clxiv, As he [the attorney] revolv'd the case, The door was fasten'd in his legal face. 1837 Dickens Pickw. lv, As all this here property is a wery great temptation to a legal gen'l'm'n. Mod. Whether he is a lawyer or not, he seems to have a legal mind. |
d. nonce-uses. Observant of law; devoted to law.
| 1872 Bagehot Physics & Pol. (1876) 218 Each generation must be born better tamed, more calm, more capable of civilisation—in a word, more legal than the one before it. 1873 Stubbs Const. Hist. Eng. (1896) II. xiv. 111 Edward was by instinct a lawgiver, and he lived in a legal age. |
e. legal cap: ruled writing paper used chiefly for legal documents. U.S.
| a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 455/2 Foolscap and legal cap are of various sizes, from 7½ × 12 to the size of a flat cap-sheet folded 8½ × 14. 1902 W. N. Harben Abner Daniel i. 3 Old man Bishop..was carefully reading a long document written on legal-cap paper. 1937 E. J. Labarre Dict. Paper 142 Legal cap, a size of paper 14{pp} × 8½{pp}. |
f. legal beagle, legal eagle, rhyming collocations designating a lawyer, spec. one who is keen and astute.
| 1949 Law Library Jrnl. XLII. 187/1 Legal Eagles and Stuffed Owls in Detroit. 1953 B. Glemser Dove on his Shoulder xii. 230 Since these letters are evidence they ought to be handed over to our legal beagles. 1961 I. T. Ross Requiem for Schoolgirl vii. 118 He's got some sort of legal beagle who protects him. 1963 N. Freeling Because of Cats vii. 116 According to the legal eagles you'll never get away with prosecuting them. 1967 Wodehouse Company for Henry vii. 117 You allowed your mind to wander when the legal eagle was doing his stuff. 1968 M. Allingham Cargo of Eagles iv. 57 That's the only good thing I've ever heard about your infernal legal eagle. 1974 Economist 30 Nov. 75 Legal eagles agree... The meeting, only the second of the justice council in EEC history.., was civilised. |
g. legal positivism: see positivism.
2. a. Such as is required or appointed by law; founded upon law; deriving authority from law. legal aid: official assistance allowed under certain conditions towards the expense of litigation (cf. aid n. 2 and 2 b); legal capacity: the authority under law of a person to engage in a particular undertaking, or maintain a particular status; legal charity: relief dispensed under the Poor Laws; legal fiction: see fiction 5 a; legal memory (see quots.).
| 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God xxi. viii. (1620) 793 What more legall and fixed order doth any part of nature keepe? 1651 Baxter Inf. Bapt. 14 It [a marriage] is not compleat till the legall conjunction or solemnizing. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 202 Assume the legal Right to disengage From all it had contracted under Age. 168. in Somers Tracts I. 273 It is not enough to say that it is a legal House without them; for a House of Commons of forty Persons is a legal House. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 153 ¶11 Preparing to take a legal possession of his fortune. 1766 Blackstone Comm. II. ii. iii. 31 It seems unaccountable, that the date of legal prescription or memory should still continue to be reckoned from an aera so very antiquated. 1771 Junius Lett. xliv. 239 There is no..legal power without a legal course to carry it into effect. 1834 H. Martineau Moral ii. 67 There are many who believe that an immediate abolition of our legal charity would cause less misery than its long continuance. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India I. 447 All disputes were referable to legal tribunals. 1861 Legal fiction [see fiction 5 a]. 1875 Jevons Money (1878) 207 A bill of lading entitles the legal holder of it to certain..packages of goods. 1876 Legal fiction [see fiction 5 a]. 1882 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 650/1 By the Statute of Westminster the First,..the beginning of the reign of Richard I. was fixed as the date of limitation for such actions. This is the well known ‘period of legal memory’. 1882 C. Sweet Dict. Eng. Law 525 When a person alleges in legal proceedings, that a custom or prescription has existed from time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary..this is..called time of living memory, as opposed to time of legal memory, which runs from the commencement of the reign of Richard I. 1890 (title) Constitution and bye-laws of the Deutsche Rechts-Schutz Verein (German Legal Aid Society). 1890 Lely & Geary Chitty's Pract. Treat. Law of Contracts (ed. 12) vii. 194 The age of twenty-one years..has been fixed, as the period when an absolute and unlimited legal capacity to contract shall commence. 1903 Act 3 Edw. VII c. xxxviii. §1 Where it appears..desirable in the interests of justice that [any poor prisoner] should have legal aid in the preparation and conduct of his defence, and that his means are insufficient to enable him to obtain such aid..the committing justices..may certify that the prisoner ought to have such legal aid. 1928 Legal aid [see interstate a.]. 1937 R. H. Lowie Hist. Ethnol. Theory v. 51 The same holds for the principle of legal fiction, which Maine also treated at length. 1959 Daily Tel. 18 Mar. 19/6 In eight years legal aid has been given to more than 238,000 litigants. 1966 Black & Brown Outl. Eng. Law v. 43 Sometimes such a presumption takes the form of a Legal Fiction. For instance if two persons die in such a way that it is uncertain which of them died first the law presumes..that the younger outlived the older. 1967 E. Rudinger Wills & Probate 91 The other [leaflet] explained how to get legal advice under the legal aid scheme. 1968 Lebende Sprachen XIII. 82/2 The customer will bear any loss incurred by the bank resulting from the fact that the bank..does not obtain knowledge of any restrictions of the customer's..legal capacity. 1969 J. B. Saunders Words & Phrases legally Defined (ed. 2) IV. 171/1 By the ancient rule of the common law, enjoyment of an easement has to be proved from time ‘whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary’, that is to say, during legal memory or since the commencement of the reign of Richard I. 1971 ‘M. Underwood’ Trout in Milk ii. 27 Thanks to ‘legal aid’ it was much easier to get started at the criminal than the civil Bar. 1972 Times 28 Jan. 16/4 All concerned—the parties' advisers, the legal aid committees,..—should put children's cases at the top of the list. |
b. legal tender: coin or other money, which a creditor is bound by law to accept, when tendered in payment of a debt. Also attrib.
| 1740 W. Douglass Disc. Curr. Brit. Plant. Amer. 6 The Court of France were obliged to ordain, that there should be no other legal Tender but Silver-Coin. 1816 Act 56 Geo. III, c. 68 §12 Whereas it is expedient that the Silver Coin of the Realm should be a legal Tender by Tale,..to any Amount not exceeding the Sum of Forty Shillings. 1833 Act 3 & 4 Will. IV, c. 98 §6 A Tender of a Note or Notes of the..Bank of England..shall be a legal Tender, to the Amount expressed in such Note or Notes. 1865 H. Phillips Amer. Paper Curr. II. 49 The Virginia convention had made the continental bills a legal tender. 1870 Act. 33 Vict. c. 10 §4 A tender of payment of money..shall be a legal tender—In the case of gold coins for the payment of any amount: In the case of silver coins for a payment of an amount not exceeding forty shillings... In the case of bronze coins for a payment of an amount not exceeding one shilling. 1870 N. Amer. Rev. Jan. 8 The objectionable features of legal-tender laws. |
c. That is such in the eye of the law.
| 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xxxvi, Miss Brass..had passed her life in a kind of legal childhood. |
d. Such as is recognized by ‘law’ as distinguished from ‘equity’.
| 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) I. 386 Having treated of legal and customary estates, we now come to discuss the nature and properties of what are called equitable estates. 1827 Jarman Powell's Devises II. 153 A general devise of real estate..passed the legal estate in lands of which the devisor was mortgagee in fee. 1875 Digby Real Prop. vii. §4. 293 The legal estate is vested in the trustee, in trust for the cestui que trust, who has the equitable estate. |
3. Permitted, or not forbidden, by law; lawful.
| 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §11 It is as legal..for the king to pardon, as for the party to accuse. 1671 L. Addison W. Barbary 35 His fourth was a Virgin Daughter of.., which made up the legal number of four, so many being allowed by their Prophet. 1691 Locke Lower. Interest (1692) 9 The Lender..will rather lend it to the Banker at the legal Interest, than [etc.]. 1817 W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 970 If it were a legal capture, they were entitled [to a return of premium]. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India III. 260 The periods fixed for the regular gaol-deliveries had been protracted beyond the legal limits. 1849 Ruskin Sev. Lamps iv. §14. 106 Those false forms of decoration which are most dangerous in our modern architecture as being legal and accepted. |
4. Theol. a. Of or pertaining to the Mosaic law; existing under or founded upon that law. b. Of, pertaining to, concerned with, or based upon the law of works, i.e. salvation by works, as opposed to salvation by faith. † Of persons: Upholding the law of works.
| ? a 1500 Chester Pl. viii. 290 Rites Ceremoniall of the old Testament, with legall obseruacon shall vtterly cease. 1640 J. Dyke Worthy Commun. 195 Paul..for legall righteousnesse, a man before men unblameable. a 1652 J. Smith Sel. Disc. vii. 349 Under the gospel there are many that do judaize, are of as legal and servile spirits as the Jews. 1659 Pearson Creed (1839) 184 Neither could he be opposed to the legal priest, as not dying himself, but giving another. 1666 Bunyan Grace Ab. ¶45 These [Ranters] would..condemn me as legal and dark. 1756 Law Lett. Import. Subj. 154 What folly to tell you, that you are only in a legal state, unless he could prove to you that [etc.]. 1786 A. Gib Sacr. Contempl. i. iii. ii. 124 A legal bias toward a doing for life, in opposition to a believing on Christ for life. 1884 Fairbairn Catholicism (1899) 26 Christ without any of the notes distinctive of sacerdotal and legal piety. |
5. a. quasi-n. Something connected with law; a legal formality; a legal notice. Also in Sc. Law, short for legal reversion: see reversion.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 5 Our lorde wolde not that we sholde take the drosse of the lawe of Moyses, neyther the cerymonyes, nor legalles and customes. 1822 Scott Nigel x, If it [the money] is not raised, there will be an expiry of the legal, as our lawyers call it. 1896 Daily News 30 Dec. 10/2 A Gentleman who has influence with advertisers and is successful in obtaining Prospectuses, Legals, and Auctions. |
b. The exact fare without any tip; a passenger who pays such a fare. Chiefly taxi-drivers' slang.
| 1923 J. Manchon Le Slang 179 The legal = the legal fare. 1939 H. Hodge Cab, Sir? vii. 84 The last, and probably most common, cause of the inadvertent ‘legal’ is the super-sensitive meter. Ibid. 85 Some ‘legals’ are simply mean, and give excuses instead of a tip. 1963 M. Levinson Taxi! vii. 88 If his next passenger gives him another ‘legal’ (the exact fare) he will naturally take a very dim view. |
______________________________
Add: [3.] b. gen. Allowed by or in accordance with a particular set of rules; acceptable, permissible. colloq.
| 1850 Morning Chron. 11 Feb. 5/6 Having thus given the characteristics and conditions of the ‘legal’, or honourable trade, I next turn my inquiry to the state of the labouring men. 1973 Times 24 May 13/7 Cans of ‘legal’ spaghetti (yes, allowed on the diets in limited quantities). 1983 Your Business Computer Aug. 21/2 A couple of funnies occurred on my system: once, the system locked up..and refused to accept any character as legal. 1992 Dr. Dobb's Jrnl. Sept. 34/2 In the beginning, I enabled one interrupt at a time and started up Windows to see what exception conditions were ‘legal’. |
______________________________
▸ legal pad n. a pad of lined (usually yellow) A4 paper, of a type habitually used by lawyers or legal secretaries.
| 1884 Argus (New Philadephia, Ohio) (Electronic text) 1 May Manilla *legal pads for sheriff. 1963 Times 4 July 17/3 He made notes on a yellow legal pad which he (the witness) got for him. 2002 B. Mukherjee Desirable Daughters ix. 140 He uncapped a fountain pen, and took out a yellow legal pad. ‘Okay, Mrs. Chatterjee, let's rock and roll.’ |