Etymologically
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legality

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Pronunciation

  • US: /liˈɡælɪti/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English legalite,[2][3][4] borrowed from Medieval Latin lēgālitās (“lawful behaviour; loyalty”),[5][6][4][7][8][9] from Latin lēgālis (“pertaining to the law”), the source of legal, with the suffix -tās;[5][6] lēgālis is from lēx (“law”).[10] The Medieval Latin word is recorded in British sources from the 12th century.[5] Merriam-Webster, Klein, the ODE and the Shorter Oxford allow a French source as well, Middle French legalité, modern légalité,[4][9][8][7] but the revised OED derives it from Latin only and notes that the French word meant a legally granted advantage in 1450, and lawfulness only from 1606.[5] It compares Italian legalità (early 14th century) and Spanish legalidad (late 15th century).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Law-abiding behaviour, attachment to the law: about 1475, in a text of 1459.[5][2][6]

Semantic evolution

From 1502, in a Scottish legal record, the word meant the state of being lawful, and in early use also legitimacy.[5] In the plural, legalities were duties or requirements imposed by law from 1641.[5] Puritan theologians from 1646 used it for reliance on the letter of the law, what is now called legalism.[5][4] Johnson (1755) gave only "lawfulness", deriving the word from French.[11] In 19th-century Scots it could mean legal proof, or a lawsuit, as in John Galt's novels.[12] From 1880 it also meant the habits of mind of the legal profession, and in the plural legal language.[5] In 1888 legality was briefly the name of a gambling game in slang.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1475 – law-abiding behaviour.[5][2]
  • 1502 – lawfulness; legitimacy.[5]
  • 1641 – a legal requirement (usually plural).[5]
  • 1646 – in theology, legalism.[5]
  • 1755 – Johnson defines it as lawfulness.[11]
  • 1880 – the habits of mind of the legal profession; legal language.[5]
  • 1888 – the name of a gambling game (slang, obsolete).[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The state or quality of being legal; lawfulness: The council doubted the legality of the parking fines.[13][4][5]
  2. Observance of or attachment to law; in theology, reliance on the letter of the law, legalism.[4][5][13]
  3. (usually plural) A requirement or formality imposed by law: the legalities of renting a flat.[5]

Word family

  • pseudolegality

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins