legalidad

Forms

legalidad f (plural legalidades)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish legal + -idad.^[2][1][3] García de Diego instead lists it as a learned word, from Latin legalitas, beside the popular Old Spanish lealdad and modern lealtad of the same Latin source.^[4] legal is itself a learned borrowing of lēgālis, from lēx (“law”);^[1] Corominas dates it from about 1520, beside the inherited leal, recorded about 1140.^[5] The same formation is French légalité and Portuguese legalidade.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in the HSMS is the Sinodal de Aguilafuente, printed in Segovia in 1472.^[6] The first hits in the CDH are royal letters of appointment of 1476–1478, where the word means trustworthiness and honesty in an office: confiando de vuestra sufiçiençia e legalidad “trusting in your competence and integrity”.^[7] The Salamanca college constitutions of 1479 bind its officers to administrar fielmente su oficio con toda legalidad “to discharge their office faithfully with all honesty”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The old sense of faithfulness in carrying out a duty was long the main one: the Quijote has con tanta legalidad y prudencia “with such fairness and good sense”, and a 1554 record from Mexico City promises to act bien e fielmente e con toda legalidad.^[8][9] Autoridades defined it as fidelity, punctuality, fair dealing and observance of the law or of one's obligation, and the Academy's dictionaries of 1843 and 1869 as truth, good faith, rectitude and fidelity in an office, with an obsolete sense “legalisation”.^[10][11][12] Domínguez in 1846 first put “acting according to the laws” first, and the Academy added “the quality of being legal” in 1884.^[13][3] Today the DLE gives the quality of being legal and, in law, the legal order in force; the older moral sense has gone from its entry.^[14]

Timeline

• 1472 – the Sinodal de Aguilafuente, printed in Segovia.^[6]
• 1476 – a royal letter praises an official's sufiçiençia e legalidad.^[7]
• 1554 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[9]
• 1734 – Autoridades defines it as fidelity and observance of the law or of one's duty.^[10]
• 1846 – Domínguez puts first the sense “acting according to the laws”.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary adds “quality of being legal” and derives the word from legal.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. legality: the quality of being legal: Los jueces examinarán la legalidad del contrato.^[14][15][1]
2. (law) The legal order in force; the rule of law: El grupo armado anunció su vuelta a la legalidad.^[14][15]

Related words

• legal
• leal
• lealtad
• ilegalidad

Usage notes

The principio de legalidad is the principle that the action of public authorities must be subject to the law.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. legalidad
3. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 635
4. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. legalitas
5. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ley
6. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. legalidad
7. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. legalidad
8. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 664
9. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. legalidad
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 378
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 433
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 461
13. ^ a b Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 2, 1075
14. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. legalidad
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. legalidad