legaladj.n.
/ˈliːɡl/, U.S. /ˈliɡəl/ A. adj.
1.
a. Recognized as such in the eye of the law; (of a child) legitimate.
ΚΠ
a1425 Dialogue Reason & Adversity (Cambr.) (1968) 21 (MED) A naturel seruaund is he wos souȝle is vnable to haue þe ȝifte of discrecioun..A legale seruaunt is he whom fortune or self wille haþ feterid with þe bond of bondage.
1579 W. Fulke Heskins Parl. Repealed in D. Heskins Ouerthrowne 12 What straunge matter is it, if one pedegree be brought from one principall ancester by seuerall discents, lineall, and collaterall, natural, and legall, by the male and by the female.
1582 Bible (Rheims) 145 Whereby it came to passe, that Iacob was the natural father of Ioseph, which..begat him: and Heli was his legal father according to the Law.
1658 A. Burgess Doctr. Orig. Sin i. viii. 37 Because he was the supposed sonne of Joseph his father, he was accounted his legal father, though he was not his natural.
1669 D. North Observ. & Advices Œcon. xiii. 25 By the Civil Law every man is capable of having legal issue, as well as natural, and may adopt whom he will.
1722 D. Defoe Moll Flanders 99 I was not his lawful Wife, nor my Children his legal Children.
1755 J. Shebbeare Second Let. People of Eng. 49 Shall that bastard and unnatural State [sc. Hanover]..exhaust all your Wealth.., and the legal Child of England be neglected and abandoned?
1837 Amer. Monthly Mag. Sept. 224 A corporation is a sort of legal individual, which the States by general consent, and Congress by assumption, have power to create.
1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. xxxvi. 297 Miss Brass..had passed her life in a kind of legal childhood.
1866 ‘O. Optic’ Way of World (1867) i. 19 The said Eugene was legally married, and was the legal father of a legal son.
1919 Med. & Surg. Therapy VI. iii. v. 648 The patients we receive..are, moreover, in a temporary condition of moral, almost legal, minority.
1980 N. J. Smelser in N. J. Smelser & E. Homburger Themes Work & Love in Adulthood i. 12 Attaining legal majority, and becoming a parent are more likely to be compressed into a few brief years.
1992 K. W. Clarkson et al. West's Business Law (ed. 5) x. 1117/3 The child is usually not regarded as the legal child of the father unless paternity is established through some legal proceeding.
2011 J. Motzmans in J.-M. Bonvin et al. Transforming Gendered Well-being in Europe xi. 183 The question remains what would happen if a legal man gave birth in Belgium.
b. Required or appointed by law; founded on or deriving authority from law.
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society > law > [adjective] > required by or founded upon law
legalc1443
c1443 R. Pecock Reule of Crysten Religioun (1927) 35 What children of good werkis þou schalt brynge forþ..þei schulen be to vs children of purchace legal and leful and no bastard braunchis.
1502 tr. Ordynarye of Crysten Men (de Worde) iv. xiii. sig. v.vi Many other cases he may haue by cause of cognacyon legall.
1590 H. Swinburne Briefe Treat. Test. & Willes i. f. 6 The testament is imperfect in respect of solemnitie, wherein some of the Legall requisites..be wanting.
1610 J. Healey tr. St. Augustine Citie of God xxi. viii. 848 What more legall and fixed order doth any part of nature keepe [L. Quid tam ratis legibus fixisque firmatum?]?
1651 R. Baxter Plain Script. Proof Infants Church-membership & Baptism 14 It [sc. a marriage] is not compleat till the legall conjunction or solemnizing.
1690 H. Maurice Remarks from Country 17 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 S. Johnson Rambler No. 153. ⁋11 Preparing to take a legal possession of his fortune.
1771 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) II. xliv. 162 There is no..legal power without a legal course to carry it into effect.
1845 H. H. Wilson Hist. Brit. India 1805–35 I. vii. 447 All disputes were referable to legal tribunals.
1896 Birmingham Daily Mail 17 Apr. 2/5 The Corporation have no legal powers to superannuate them from the rates.
1908 Amer. Hist. Rev. 13 240 Some of his methods of raising money he had no legal right to employ.
1935 Harvard Law Rev. 48 788 Financial accountability in the government means conformity with the legal requirements governing spending.
1944 New Eng. Q. 17 183 Some said that Kidd had no legal authority to drum for men in New York.
2008 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 13 Apr. viii. 3/1 Here in the United States, on the other hand—free from legal constraints or political will—we simply deficit-finance our wars and tax cuts.
c. Recognized by law as distinguished from equity.
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society > law > [adjective] > as distinguished from equity
legal1648
1648 C. Walker Relations & Observ. ii. 135 When the King claimed them by a better and more legall Title then the Sword, they could object the equity of the Lawes against the killing letter of them, which they say, directs still to the equitable sense of all Lawes.
1685 Arguments Late Ld. Chancellor Nottingham 10 If you do observe this Case, here is no Proviso at all annexed to the legal Estate of the Term, but to the equitable Estate, that is built upon the legal Estate unto the Estate to Henry.
a1720 J. Sheffield Wks. (1753) II. 105 They could make me no legal title..and I have only an equitable one to depend on.
1785 J. J. Powell Treat. Law Mortgages xv. 435 If he might be suffered to protect himself by getting in the legal estate, they would not carry it on by a decree, in equity, to foreclose.
1827 T. Jarman Powell's Ess. Learning of Devises (ed. 3) II. 153 A general devise of real estate..passed the legal estate in lands of which the devisor was mortgagee in fee.
1875 K. E. Digby Introd. Hist. Law Real Prop. vii. 293 The legal estate is vested in the trustee, in trust for the cestui que trust, who has the equitable estate.
1938 Rotarian Feb. 55/2 Twenty-two other jurisdictions have made the rule of representative suits applicable to suits of all character, legal as well as equitable.
1994 E. H. Burn Cheshire & Burn's Mod. Law of Real Prop. (ed. 15) 50 [The effect of the Statute of Uses 1535] was to abolish the distinction between the legal and the equitable estate in the case of the passive use.
2. Theology. Of or relating to the Mosaic Law; existing under or founded upon that law. Also: of, relating to, concerned with, or based on a law which affords salvation as a result of doing good works (as opposed to salvation by faith); †(of a person) upholding this law (obsolete).
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society > faith > worship > good works > [adjective] > characteristic of law concerning
legal1447
society > faith > aspects of faith > Bible, Scripture > Testament > Old Testament > [adjective] > Mosaic dispensation
moral law1551
Mosaical1562
lawish1564
legal1591
Mosaic1632
Moschical1662
1447 O. Bokenham Lives of Saints (Arun.) (1938) l. 1696 Tyl assoylled þu be Of þis legal malediccyoun.
a1525 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1923) I. 327 As in the ald testament ar foure maneris..of bukis, legall, historiall, sapienciale and prophetall.
1567 Compend. Bk. Godly Songs (1897) 81 Syne the Jowis that war legall, And Gentillis..Maid baith ane body mysticall.
1591 (?a1425) Three Kings (Huntington) in R. M. Lumiansky & D. Mill Chester Myst. Cycle (1974) I. 169 Rittes ceremonyall of the ould testament with legall observation shall utterly cease.
a1639 J. Dyke Right Receiving of Christ (1640) xiv. 195 Paul..for legall righteousnesse, a man before men unblameable.
a1652 J. Smith Select Disc. (1660) vii. iv. 323 Under the Gospel there are many that do Judaize, are of as Legal and Servile Spirits as the Jews.
1666 J. Bunyan Grace Abounding ⁋45 These [sc. Ranters] would..condemn me as legal and dark.
1760 W. Law Coll. Lett. Interesting & Important Subj. xii. 171 What Folly to tell you, that you are only in a Legal State, unless he could prove to you, that you have no Aversion to Wickedness.
1786 A. Gib Καινα και Παλαια: Sacred Contempl. i. iii. ii. 124 A legal bias toward a doing for life, in opposition to a believing on Christ for life.
1834 Biblical Repository Jan. 151 Ananias, the first teacher of the apostle, was generally respected even by the Jews for his legal piety.
1899 A. M. Fairbairn Catholicism i. 26 Christ, without any of the notes distinctive of sacerdotal and legal piety.
1943 J. Macleod Sc. Theol. 154 The one strain was the teaching of the Legal, the other of the Evangelical school.
2014 J. Witte in W. Decock et al. Law & Relig. xii. 259 Legal works played no role in the drama of salvation.
3.
a. Of or relating to law; falling within the province of law.
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society > law > [adjective]
lawfula1387
legalc1484
juridic1553
c1484 (a1475) J. de Caritate tr. Secreta Secret. (Takamiya) (1977) 183 Þe strenght clepyd legal..is plantatyf of orygynallis.
1529 T. More Dialogue Heresyes i, in 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 R. Boyle Occas. Refl. Introd. Pref. sig. b1v To make use of a Legal Artifice to hinder..the Publication.
1671 J. Milton Samson Agonistes 313 [God] hath full right to exempt Whom so it pleases him..From National obstriction, without taint Of sin, or legal debt. View more context for this quotation
1728 J. Veneer tr. Compan. Sincere Penitent Pref. 7 Sharp rebukes and legal severities.
1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. i. 18 The rudiments of legal knowledge.
1861 J. Graham Eng. Word-bk. for Schools Introd. 8 Words of Latin origin relating to legal and military affairs.
1898 Eclectic Mag. 67 603 Protected..by skillful legal advice.
1916 Law Notes Apr. 3/1 The remedy for dishonesty in the legal profession, at least under the advocacy system, is in a reawakening of business conscience.
1943 Yale Law Jrnl. 52 206 If legal education in the contemporary world is adequately to serve the needs of a free and productive commonwealth, [etc.].
2005 New Internationalist July 33/1 The five conscientious objectors..were fully aware of the legal implications of their actions.
b. Observant of law; devoted to law.
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society > law > jurisprudence > [adjective] > devoted to the law
legal1756
society > law > rule of law > [adjective] > law-abiding
lawfulc1430
legitime1677
legal1756
law-abiding1839
crimeless1887
straight1977
1756 B. Buckler Reply to Dr. Huddesford's Observ. 28 This Delegacy indeed..is formed upon so excellent a model..as more legal times might have copied without blushing.
1832 Standard 25 May In later and more legal times Queen Anne's traitor ministry did prevail upon their deceived mistress to create twelve peers.
1872 W. Bagehot Physics & Politics vi. 218 Each generation must be born better tamed, more calm, more capable of civilisation—in a word, more legal than the one before it.
1901 C. L. Marson Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln iv. 57 He was hardly abreast of his very legal time in reverence for the feudal system.
1939 New Yorker 13 May 30/3 We are very legal people in China, even after death.
2013 T. Ruskola Legal Orientalism ii. 40 To observe that Americans are a very legal, even legalistic, people is among the most time-worn clichés.
c. Belonging to or characteristic of the profession of the law.
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society > law > legal profession > lawyer > [adjective] > resembling or characteristic of a lawyer
lawyer-like1574
lawyerly1649
legal1764
lawyerish1918
1764 J. Newlands in R. Erskine Serm. & Pract. Wks. I. ix. 178 So much is he in conceit with his legal turn of mind, and external conformity to the law, that he sticks at nothing that he thinks will bring a reproach upon his opponents.
1819 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto I clxiv. 85 As he [sc. the attorney] revolved the case The door was fasten'd in his legal face.
1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers liv. 586 As all this here property is a wery great temptation to a legal gen'lm'n.
1887 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 31 Jan. 2/2 The committee goes so far as to call this congressional masterpiece of ambiloquous phraseology ‘the acme of legal subterfuge’.
1947 Waterloo (Iowa) Daily Courier 3 Oct. 6/2 There were pompous-sounding legal phrases directing George to see that we were provided for.
1962 Listener 12 Apr. 627/1 The practical problem of selecting the rights to be protected and of formulating them in legal language.
2006 J. M. Leiper Bar Codes ii. 36 The masculine tradition of legal dress poses larger issues for many women.
4.
a. Permitted, or not forbidden, by law; lawful; spec. officially authorized to live and work in a country (cf. sense B. 2).
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society > law > rule of law > [adjective] > in accordance with the law
lawlya1250
leefulc1275
leal1352
lawfula1398
leesome?a1400
lisiblea1420
legitimec1450
legitimatea1460
coursable1478
licit1483
legal1671
above boarda1695
enabled1729
legit1907
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.
1692 J. Locke Some Considerations Lowering Interest 9 The Lender..will rather lend it to the Banker, at the legal Interest.
1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. i. 7 It is as Legal..for the King to pardon, as for the Party to accuse.
1776 J. Yair Acct. Sc. Trade in Netherlands 21 They shall trade, in legal and unprohibited goods.
1848 H. H. Wilson Hist. Brit. India 1805–35 III. vi. 260 The periods fixed for the regular gaol-deliveries had been protracted beyond the legal limits.
1915 Amer. Miller & Processor 1 June 459/1 The Massachusetts legislature has actually passed the food bill naming the ‘legal’ substances that may be used in the baking of bread.
1964 A. Wykes Gambling 340 The only legal way to make an off-track bet is through the Totalization Agency Board.
1975 Illegal Aliens: Hearings before Subcomm. on Immigration, Citizenship, & Internat. Law (U.S. House of Representatives, 94th Congr., 1st Sess.) 27 His signing of a statement that he is a legal alien will really provide very little deterrent.
1991 S. Grasmuck & P. R. Pessar Between Two Islands vii. 190 Undocumented and legal women alike are extremely disciplined workers.
2014 Irish Times (Nexis) 8 Nov. 5 Their methods, which are perfectly legal, save large sums in tax.
b. gen. Allowed by or in accordance with a particular set of rules; acceptable, permissible.
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society > authority > lack of subjection > permission > [adjective] > permitted or allowed > by authority
warranteda1616
sanctioned1799
legal1832
1832 G. Walker New Treat. Chess v. 13 Placing the finger on the board, in planning a move, is also a bad habit, though strictly legal.
1849 J. Ruskin Seven Lamps Archit. iv. 106 I have named those false forms of decoration which are most dangerous in our modern architecture as being legal and accepted.
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.
1907 Chess Amateur Oct. 14/2 A game which, whatever legal moves are made, cannot be won, is called a ‘Drawn Game’.
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 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’.
2011 A. W. Root Living Chess Game v. 55 If a player is not in check but has no legal move, the position is called a stalemate.
5. Originally: designating paper authorized for exclusive legal and governmental use. Subsequently (chiefly North American): designating paper measuring 8½ by 14 inches (approx. 22 by 35.5 cm), now typically of a yellow colour. Cf. legal cap n. and adj. at Compounds, legal pad n. at Compounds.
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society > communication > writing > writing materials > material to write on > paper > [adjective] > other types of paper
sinking1575
whitey-brown1786
metallic1799
gilt-edge1807
legal1815
tindery1886
squared1887
Silurian1892
stamped1907
1815 T. Rice Inquiry Irish Grand Jury Laws 45 To investigate the value of the stamp, or to inspect the watermark of the legal paper.
1826 Q. Oriental Mag. Dec. 23 The Forger then purchases as much legal paper from the authorized Venders, of one anna value as he proposes to transform by his process, there being no difference in the English or Native signatures, nor in the smaller die in genuine paper from 1 A. to 16 Rs. value, he is saved the necessity of forging the endorsements.
1840 H. Milton Rivalry I. xvii. 322 The translation was one of those numerous efforts of the Muse, which, written on legal paper.., assist the young briefless barristers of the back benches to get through their probationary years of tedious non-employment.
1895 E. D. Mills Mills Bk. Typewriter Forms 3 Write twenty-eight lines to a page of legal paper, and twenty to twenty-five to a page of letter and testimony paper.
1933 Steubenville (Ohio) Herald-Star 22 Apr. 7/1 A roll of letterheads and yellow legal paper..was lost on Market street this morning.
1961 K. Hulme Annie's Captain iv. 61 Her delicate writing went so straight across the long sheets of legal paper.
1993 Macworld Dec. 34/2 The 810 [printer] can take letter, legal, tabloid, A3, A4, A5, B4, and B5 paper sizes.
2014 USA Today (Nexis) 5 May (Sports section) 1 c [He]..has a stack of jailhouse letters Hernandez scrawled on yellow legal paper in the drawer of his desk.
B. n.
1. † a. A Mosaic regulation or law. Obsolete.† c. Scots Law. Short for legal reversion: see reversion n.1 2. Obsolete.
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society > faith > aspects of faith > Bible, Scripture > Testament > Old Testament > [noun] > Mosaic dispensation
the old lawc1000
law1382
the law of Mosesa1400
legala1425
pedagoguea1425
Torah1577
pedagogy1583
Mosaic law1698
law-covenant1803
a1425 (a1400) Northern Pauline Epist. (1916) Coloss. ii. 21 If ȝee been deade with crist fro þe elementys of þis world wherto ȝit as þe lifande in þe world discryue þe legalys to be kept seyande som to oþere þise thyngus: touche ȝee not nor taaste ȝee not.[No corresponding clause in the Latin original.]
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection i. sig. Biiiiv Our lorde wolde nat that we shulde take the drosse of the lawe of Moyses, nother the cerimonyes, nor legalles and customes.
1556 J. Standish Triall Supremacy sig. E.vi It doth greatly proue Peters authoritie that Christ after his ascencion did only shew to him (as to the heade and chiefe of all) the vision of ceasing the legals.
b. A thing connected with law; a legal formality; a legal notice.
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society > law > [noun] > something connected with
legal1654
society > law > administration of justice > process, writ, warrant, or order > [noun] > notification
monitionc1460
signification1533
warning1579
garnishment1585
intimation1632
factorizing1809
originating notice1881
legal1896
1654 R. Baxter Apol. against T. Blake & G. Kendall 125 Unquestionable naturals are presupposed in Morals and Legals.
1896 Daily News 30 Dec. 10/2 A Gentleman who has influence with advertisers and is successful in obtaining Prospectuses, Legals, and Auctions.
1915 Inland Printer July 539/1 An important source of income for the country weekly and the small daily are the ‘legal’ advertisements—more commonly known as ‘legals’.
1975 Hutchinson (Kansas) News 30 Dec. 4/1 Kansas laws requiring governments to publish long-winded ‘legals’ in the state's newspapers.
2012 M. Bishop Future Private Equity xviii. 207 He worked on the legals of private equity transactions..before being invited to join the team as a Senior Partner.
ΚΠ
1656 in J. A. Clyde Hope's Major Practicks (1937) I. 326 Minors may redeem lands comprysed from them at any tyme befoir their aige of 25 yeirs compleit, albeit the legall wer expyred.
1681 J. Dalrymple Inst. Law Scotl. ii. xxiv. 44 The principal Sum..is also extended to Minors having the priviledge after the ordinary legal of seven year.
1732 Ld. Kames Ess. Several Subj. in Law 36 Let us know suppose the Legals to be expired, and see what Alteration that makes.
1766 Information J. Murray against Sir T. Gordon 20 He could not take advantage of the legals which were allowed to expire thro' his own fault.
1822 W. Scott Fortunes of Nigel I. x. 259 If it [sc. the money] is not raised, there will be an expiry of the legal, as our lawyers call it.
1896 W. K. Morton Man. Law Scotl. 171 The creditor holds the property in security during the legal, under obligation to apply any surplus income towards the principal debt.
1903 J. W. Brodie-Innes Compar. Princ. Laws Eng. & Scotl. 610 The summons for declarator of expiry of the legal asks for declarator that the debt was neither satisfied within the legal nor since its expiration.
d. slang. The exact taxi fare without any tip; a taxi passenger who pays such a fare.
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society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > [noun] > fare > exact fare for taxi or cab
legal1923
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > [noun] > fare > exact fare for taxi or cab > one who pays
legal1923
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > transport by vehicles plying for hire > [noun] > passenger in vehicle plying for hire > who pays exact fare
legal1923
1923 J. Manchon Le Slang 179 The legal = the legal fare.
1939 H. Hodge Cab, Sir? vii. 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.
1994 Evening Standard Mag. 28 Oct. 7 Legal: amount on the meter, without tip (usage: ‘I was legalled off = a mean fare coughed up to the penny, without adding the price of a drink.’).
2. Chiefly North American. A person who has been officially authorized to live and work in a country. Cf. legal resident n. at Compounds. Opposed to illegal (see illegal n. 1). Usually in plural.
ΚΠ
1952 Chicago Jewish Forum Spring 166/2 They were, in many cases, simply brought down to the border in the trucks of their employers, walked across the line, had their names signed to a paper and strolled back into the United States as legals.
1971 Illegal Aliens: Hearings before Subcomm. No. 1 Judiciary Comm. (U.S. House of Representatives, 92nd Congr., 1st Sess.) ii. 392 Habitation for migrants has been condemned right and left as unfit to live in. This..prevents people from legitimately hiring legals who refuse this type of housing.
1987 D. S. Massey et al. Return to Aztlan ix. 255 Undocumented migrants are less likely than legals to acquire social and economic ties to the United States.
2008 Daily Herald (Chicago) 12 Jan. (DuPage County ed.) i. 3/4 We have to raise the bar to make sure they [sc. farmers] have legals filling those jobs.
Compounds
legal adviser n. a person employed to give advice on legal matters.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > advice > [noun] > adviser or counsellor > other types of
preconsultor1609
co-assessor1644
adviser1752
legal adviser1788
pagati1803
legal advisor1825
investment adviser1853
referendary1876
tipster1884
economic adviser1907
1788 Authentic Detail Particulars Relative to Late Duchess Kingston 65 Through a fatal confidence, either in her legal advisers, her own manœuvrings, or a commixture of both, she rejected the proposal with an air of insult.
1845 H. H. Wilson Hist. Brit. India 1805–35 I. v. 241 Debarred from the aid of the legal advisers of the state.
1905 Chicago Tribune 17 Oct. 4/3 The policy holders' legal advisers were actuated by the promise of a contingency fee if they won the decision in the case.
2013 Daily Tel. 13 Sept. 37/3 The hot seat of legal adviser to the Home Office.
legal advisor n. = legal adviser n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > advice > [noun] > adviser or counsellor > other types of
preconsultor1609
co-assessor1644
adviser1752
legal adviser1788
pagati1803
legal advisor1825
investment adviser1853
referendary1876
tipster1884
economic adviser1907
1825 W. B. Stevenson Hist. Narr. Resid. S. Amer. I. ix. 179 A legal Advisor called the Asesor.
1959 I. Gershwin Lyrics on Several Occasions p. iv A bow to Leonard S. Saxe, my legal advisor, who did most of the doing.
2001 Toolkit (World Bank) iii. §6.3.1. 88 The legal advisor will need to be involved..in the drafting of the information memorandum.
legal aid n. legal assistance; esp. official assistance allowed under certain conditions towards the expense of litigation (cf. aid n. 2a).
ΘΚΠ
society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > action of courts in claims or grievances > [noun] > legal aid
legal aid1686
1686 F. Philipps Investigatio Jurium Antiquorum xvii. 245 The Ancient and Legall aid and help of his tenures in Capite.
1793 J. Chelsum Duty relieving French Refugee Clergy 13 The legal aid that is due to them ought certainly to be more largely exacted.
1890 (title) Constitution and bye-laws of the Deutsche Rechts-Schutz Verein (German Legal Aid Society).
1959 Daily Tel. 18 Mar. 19/6 In eight years legal aid has been given to more than 238,000 litigants.
2010 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 24 Mar. a13/3 The doctors at Children's Hospital..referred 500 patients for legal aid last year.
legal attaché n. an official serving with an embassy or other government agency abroad and having special responsibility for legal matters.
ΚΠ
1881 E. C. G. Murray Sidelights Eng. Society I. 172 He would have been glad of the place of first legal attaché, instead of living a rough and tumble life with his wife in barracks at Minorca.
1919 Harvard Alumni Bull. 12 June 768/2 He was legal attache at the United States embassy at Madrid during the Spanish War.
1979 G. Liddy Out of Control iii. 31 [They] passed on to the legal attaché in Bonn a rumble they picked up in the east.
2004 9/11 Comm. Rep. (National Comm. Terrorist Attacks U.S.) viii. 274 [The] message requested assistance form the FBI legal attaché in Paris.
legal capacity n. the authority under law of a person to engage in a particular undertaking, or maintain a particular status.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal capacity > [noun]
capacity1480
ability1579
legal capacity1649
qualification1660
capability1684
1649 J. Lilburne in J. Lilburne et al. Picture Councel of State 4 I..have never done any act that did put me out of a Legal capacity to claim the utmost punctilio, benefit, and priviledge that the Laws and Liberties of England will afford.
1835 T. Curry Rep. Supreme Court Louisiana 8 130 The legislature has the power to remove or modify the legal capacities of minors or married women, as may be deemed expedient.
2012 R. Schuz & A. Blecher-Prigat in E. E. Sutherland Future of Child & Family Law vi. 180 The Israeli legal system is making progress in recognizing the evolving legal capacities of minors.
legal action n. the action or fact of using the legal system to settle a dispute, disagreement, etc.; a legal process; a lawsuit.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > action of courts in claims or grievances > [noun] > a lawsuit
speechc897
mootc1225
pleadingc1275
pleac1300
actiona1325
quarrela1325
suit1348
pursuit1380
sokena1387
process1395
plead1455
pleament1480
suit in law1530
ployc1600
suit in equity1604
suit in chancery1621
lawsuit1624
instance1654
legal action1656
lis1932
1656 W. Prynne Legal Resol. Two Important Quæres 17 They may all..joyntly detain their Tythes and Duties.., because..he was never legally instituted to discharge all the Duties of an Incumbent..; which they may plead in Bar of any Legal Action to recover his Dues.
1684 G. Mackenzie Instit. Law Scotl. i. vii. 70 If either Pupill or Minor have any Legal Action to prosecute, and want Tutors or Curators, the Lords will upon a Bill Authorize Curators.
1764 C. Churchill Times 8 Heav'n can commence no legal action here.
1841 Standard 19 July 2/6 A legal action ensued, which recently came to trial.
1883 T. S. Clouston Clin. Lect. Mental Dis. xix. 612 It may..be necessary, before certifying, to get a letter..protecting the doctor from risk of legal action.
1919 Sandusky (Ohio) Star Jrnl. 15 Mar. 2/2 Liens on furniture and other effects would be wasted legal action, leaders say.
1982 W. F. Adams in F. R. J. Fields & R. J. Horwitz Psychol. & Professional Pract. iv. 59 Counseling psychology is currently very vulnerable to legal actions.
2014 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 26 June 10 The company..chased debtors with threats of legal action in letters sent from non-existent law firms.
legal age n. (a) the age at which a person's participation in a particular activity or appointment to a specific role is legally valid or permissible (cf. age n. 2b); (b) the age at which a person takes on the rights and responsibilities of an adult (cf. age n. 2a).Cf. lawful adj., adv., n., and int..
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > age > [noun] > specific age
yearOE
scorea1400
seventeena1568
threescorea1616
jubileea1640
military age1656
legal age1658
tecnogoniaa1676
sixty1717
forty1732
fifty1738
seven-year-old1762
teen1789
septuagenarianism1824
sexagenarianism1824
day-old1831
seventeen-year-old1858
centenarianism1863
roaring forties1867
twenties1874
leaving age1875
school-leaving age1881
octogenarianism1883
reading age1906
three1909
teenage1912
eleven-plus1937
the world > people > person > adult > [noun] > adulthood or maturity
full eldOE
agec1275
douthc1275
full agec1390
maturitya1475
years?1532
just age1541
just years1541
consistencea1613
grown years1645
legal age1658
adultness1663
adultagea1670
muttonhood1841
adulthood1850
1658 tr. J. Ussher Ann. World 418 The Anacleteria had been celebrated in honour of Ptolomei the King, as it is customary for the Kings of Egypt, when they come to the Legal age of their reign [L. ad legitimam regnandi ætatem].
1681 R. Howard Life & Reign Richard II 139 Now having attained to Our Legal Age, We are resolved to be no longer in Ward, but to take into Our hands the Government of Our Realm.
1702 J. Northleigh Topogr. Descr. p. xxv Heirs would do well, if not better, to be at their Homes, when they arrive at that Statutable or Legal Age.
1794 Sun 19 Aug. 4/1 To evade the payment of that just debt, Bream had made it out that he was only the servant of his brother, who, as being under the legal age, could not be sued.
1839 Ann. Reg. 1838 Hist. Europe 209/2 The provisions of the [factory] act are violated.., and children, under the legal age, condemned to toil at the mill.
1860 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Daily Sentinel 29 Aug. The old gentleman..has been enabled to present each of his children, on arriving at legal age, with eighty acres of land.
1995 B. Asare in V. U. James Women & Sustainable Devel. Afr. vi. 107 If the son is a minor..other arrangements may be made until [he] reaches legal age.
2014 Scotsman (Nexis) 6 Feb. 20 The legal age for buying cigarettes in Scotland was raised from 16 to 18 in 2007.
legal beagle n. colloquial a lawyer; spec. one who is keen and astute.
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society > law > legal profession > lawyer > [noun] > inferior, rascally, or shrewd
fogger1564
pettifogger1564
long fifteen1611
leguleian1617
peatc1680
pettifog1721
Philadelphia lawyer1788
legal beagle1822
lawyerling1830
shyster1844
legal eagle1869
1822 Examiner 22 Sept. 596/1 He offered submission in meekness and tears, The fierce legal beagles to hush.
1880 Daily Graphic (N.Y.) 26 Nov. 190/4 No less than two pairs of these legal beagles having been let loose upon the unhappy invalid by order of a benign and merciful court.
1953 B. Glemser Dove on his Shoulder xii. 230 Since these letters are evidence they ought to be handed over to our legal beagles.
2014 Edmonton (Alberta) Jrnl. (Nexis) 19 Sept. a21 The legal beagles and lawmakers, not to be confused with the police, have bent the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to please themselves.
legal cap n. and adj. U.S. ruled legal writing paper (see sense A. 5).
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society > communication > writing > writing materials > material to write on > paper > [noun] > paper for legal use
brief-paper1796
legal cap1844
briefing-post1865
bond papera1877
legal pad1882
brief1923
1844 North Amer. & Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia) 2 Apr. (advt.) Just received a fresh supply of Legal Cap Paper. For sale by the ream or single quire by Hogan & Thompson.
1874 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. I. 455/2 Foolscap and legal cap are of various sizes, from 71/ 2 × 12 to the size of a flat cap-sheet folded 81/ 2 × 14.
1883 Lebanon (Indiana) Patriot 21 June 7/4 The answer is a carefully written document, covering several pages of legal cap paper.
1937 E. J. Labarre Dict. Paper 142 Legal cap, a size of paper 14″ × 8½″.
1977 S. Gillers ‘I'd Rather do it Myself’ v. 97 Legal cap, brief paper, large printed envelopes, legal forms and numerous other supplies must also be purchased.
2010 E. G. Stackhouse Germantown in Civil War vi. 123 We stepped into a store, and for $3 obtained a package about the size and shape of a ream of legal cap paper.
legal charity n. relief dispensed under the Poor Laws; charity given to the poor by law.
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society > society and the community > social attitudes > philanthropy > [noun] > poor-relief
relieving1389
relief1438
poor relief1698
legal charity1818
poor-work1854
1818 Edinb. Rev. Feb. 296 So it appears, that the legal charity does not supersede the gratuitous charity, but renders it more indispensable.
1834 H. Martineau Moral Many Fables ii. 67 An immediate abolition of our legal charity would cause less misery than its long continuance.
1916 Statesman's Year-bk. iii. 1071 In Italy legal charity, in the sense of a right in the poor to be supported by the parish or commune, or of an obligation on the commune to relieve the poor, does not exist.
1997 N.Y. Times 28 Dec. (Late ed.) 13/1 Any law giving the able-bodied poor the absolute right to legal charity will lead inexorably to an increase in their numbers.
legal clinic n. originally and chiefly North American (a) a place or institution dedicated to the practical education of law students; (b) (now usually) a service offering free or relatively inexpensive legal advice and assistance, often paid for by legal aid.
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1890 Current Comment & Legal Misc. 15 May 276 There will be sufficient opportunity given the student for attending legal clinics to familiarize him with general court proceedings.
1914 Washington Post 14 Mar. 2/4 To render legal assistance to those unable to pay attorney fees, the George Washington University Law School is preparing to inaugurate a legal clinic.
1952 Amer. Bar Assoc. Jrnl. Mar. 189/1 Changes both in the practice and the teaching of law require some modification in the original purposes of legal clinics in law education.
1999 Derby Evening Tel. (Nexis) 12 Jan. (Public Services section) 9 A free legal clinic is being held at Boulton Lane Park Community Centre.
2012 E. Boris & J. Klein Caring for Amer. vii. 201 They [sc. Worker Centers] offered support services, a legal clinic.., and advice with taxes, housing, and immigrant status.
legal eagle n. = legal beagle n.
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society > law > legal profession > lawyer > [noun] > inferior, rascally, or shrewd
fogger1564
pettifogger1564
long fifteen1611
leguleian1617
peatc1680
pettifog1721
Philadelphia lawyer1788
legal beagle1822
lawyerling1830
shyster1844
legal eagle1869
1869 Architect 10 Apr. 193/2 Wherever the New Courts are erected, thither will the legal eagles resort.
1963 N. Freeling Because of Cats vii. 116 According to the legal eagles you'll never get away with prosecuting them.
2005 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch 11 Sept. a12 The presiding political mind was not a top White House aide or a legal eagle from the Justice Department.
legal fee n. (in plural) the remuneration paid to a lawyer or legal team for their services.
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society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > payment for labour or service > fee for services rendered > [noun] > fee of professional person > lawyer's fee
six-and-eightpence1699
legal fee1829
1829 Rep. Cases U.S. Circuit Court, 3rd Circuit 4 494 The sum of $500.., after legal fees deducted, be paid to Elmer.
1898 Kansas City (Missouri) Star 26 Nov. 4/7 The estate has been exhausted in paying legal fees.
1927 F. M. Thrasher Gang iv. xx. 421 This gang..maintained a sinking-fund to provide bail and legal fees.
1989 B. Kingsolver Holding Line (1996) xi. 168 The unions..protested P.D.'s policy of paying legal fees for nonstrikers charged with crimes.
2011 Guardian (Nexis) 3 May (Educ. section) 8 The legal fees were 10 times the amount the university might have paid in compensation had it lost the case.
legal fiction n. an assumption that something is true even though it may be untrue, made esp. in judicial reasoning to develop the law (cf. fiction n. 5a).
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society > law > jurisprudence > [noun] > assumption feigned for argument
fiction1590
legal fiction1861
1861 H. S. Maine Anc. Law ii. 26 I..employ the expression ‘Legal Fiction’ to signify any assumption which conceals, or affects to conceal, the fact that a rule of law has undergone alteration.
1876 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest V. xxii. 17 The same spirit of legal fiction..shows itself..in the way in which the facts of the great confiscation are dealt with.
1937 R. H. Lowie Hist. Ethnol. Theory v. 51 The same holds for the principle of legal fiction, which Maine also treated at length.
1966 H. K. Black & D. J. L. 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.
legal firm n. a company or other business concern which provides legal services to its clients; = law firm n. at law n.1 Compounds 2.
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society > law > legal profession > [noun] > law firm
legal firm1810
law firmc1876
1810 Pilot (London) 6 Nov. 3/1 A partner in another legal firm of great eminence.
1867 T. Hood Golden Heart III. ix. 125 Mr. Louis, one of a well-known legal firm famous for their defences of desperate cases.
1922 Financial Times 28 June 6/4 Much advice was being given..to clients, both by legal firms and by banks, as to the particular methods which might be taken to evade super-tax.
1986 W. Gibson Count Zero (1987) i. 4 Some talk about her job with some legal firm in L.A.
2013 Canberra Times (Nexis) 17 Aug. a1 Legal firms specialising in personal injury reported high success rates.
legal guardian n. a person who is legally responsible for the welfare and safe upbringing of a minor or other person regarded in law as incapable of managing his or her own affairs.
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the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > care, protection, or charge > [noun] > one who looks after > guardian of minor or incapable person
wardenc1290
tutora1387
curate1463
curator1471
guardiana1535
guardianer1595
pro-tutor1664
legal guardian1720
guardy1833
conservator1853
caregiver1966
primary caregiver1972
1720 R. Grantham & Others, Appts. J. Drummond & Trustees, Respts.: Respondent's Case 18 Mar. 2 He was an Infant, his Father was his legal Guardian or Administrator in Law.
1899 W. C. Rodgers Treat. Law Domest. Relations xi. 805 One who is merely the legal guardian or curator of the estate of an infant has no right to the domestic services of such child.
2014 National Post (Canada) (Nexis) 26 June a3 Performers under age 18 require the signed permission of a legal guardian.
legal high n. a substance with stimulant or mood-altering properties whose sale or use is not banned by current legislation regarding the misuse of drugs; cf. high n.2 13b.
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1962 R. G. Reisner Bird 149 Bird introduced this nutmeg to the guys. It was a cheap and legal high.]
1967 A. Hoffman Fuck the Syst. 27 There are also legal highs, the most famous of which is bananas.
1977 Rolling Stone 5 May 81/4 (advt.) Includes rolling papers and free legal-highs catalogue.
1999 B. Malbon Clubbing ii. 116 Others are so-called ‘legal highs’ made from natural plant and herbal substances.
2013 Daily Tel. 30 May 9/1 The drug [sc. mephedrone] was distributed as a ‘legal high’ until it was banned in 2010 after demands from campaigners.
legal holiday n. North American a public holiday established by law.
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1805 Goshen (Indiana) Weekly News 12 Jan. 3/2 Tuesday being the anniversary of the battle of New Orleans, a legal holiday, banks, courts, and the city hall were closed.
1884 Handy Compan. for Constant Use 138 July 4th is a legal holiday in all the States and Territories.
1949 Motor Boating Jan. 68/1 Some of the business houses were closed..because..June 7 is the King's birthday and a legal holiday throughout Canada.
1989 A. Zack Grievance Arbitration vii. 193 Employees lost a day's pay when the company shut down on legal holidays.
2004 Washington Post (Nexis) 8 Dec. (Metro section) b1 The [D.C.] council also voted to give District government employees an extra day off by designating April 16, Emancipation Day, as a legal holiday.
legal immigrant n. a person who has been granted official permission to reside in a foreign country; opposed to illegal immigrant.
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1891 N.-Y. Evangelist 24 Dec. 8/1 One of the Special Commissioners..was sent abroad..to learn..the ways and means by which European paupers were landed in this country as legal immigrants in spite of law.
1936 Internat. Affairs 15 691 The average number of Jewish immigrants [in Palestine] is fifty thousand legal immigrants, beside the illegal ones, whose numbers are unknown.
1980 M. D. Bayles Morality & Population Policy viii. 93 Smaller quotas for legal immigrants may not stop, but exacerbate, the exploitation of illegal immigrants.
2014 Sunday Times (Nexis) 4 May 29 Numerous surveys have shown that legal immigrants put more into the economy in taxes and wealth-creation than they take out in benefits and using services.
legal immigration n. immigration which is officially authorized; opposed to illegal immigration.
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1921 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 93 122/1 It is doubtful if this law has had the effect of lessening legal immigration from Mexico to the United States, but it has certainly increased the number of illegal entries.
1987 M. J. Rossant in A. Dowty Closed Borders p. ix Given the tendency to restrict legal immigration in many countries..and reinforced efforts to curb illegal immigration.., we will experience mounting difficulties concerning the movement..of people over the next decade.
2013 Sunday Times (Nexis) 18 Aug. 18 Legal immigration brings many benefits for this country.
legal incapacity n. the legal disqualification of a person from engaging in a particular undertaking, or maintaining a particular status (cf. legal capacity n.); the period during which this applies.
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1707 Act Scotland Electing Peers & Commoners Parl. 2 In case of the Death or legal Incapacity of any of the said Members from the respective Shires or Stewartries, afore-mention'd to sit in the House of Commons.
1869 A. P. Cleary Law Registration Parl. Voters Ireland (ed. 2) iii. 59 When legal incapacity exists, independently of Statute, the Register is conclusive as to the right to vote.
1994 Toronto Star 30 July l1/4 Most powers of attorney for property..stay effective during legal incapacity.
legal man n. now historical [compare post-classical Latin legalis homo (from 12th cent. in British sources)] : a man who has full legal rights, being neither outlawed, excommunicated, nor disqualified from appearing in courts of law.
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society > law > legal capacity > [noun] > legal person > person with full legal rights
inlawc1250
legal person1618
society > faith > church government > ecclesiastical discipline > court > [noun] > person with rights in
legal person1618
1618 S. Daniel Coll. Hist. Eng. 128 Twelue Knights or Legall men are chosen in euery shire, vpon their Oath, to disparte the old forests from the new.
1731 T. Gurdon Hist. High Court Parl. I. i. 80 He [sc. Edward I] issued out Writs to two Commissioners in every County, to inquire by twelve legal Men, what were his own Royalties and Prerogatives of his Crown.
1813 J. Lyon Hist. Town & Port Dover I. xii. 237 The bailiff then appointed twelve legal men, of the town, to take a view of the premises.
2007 G. Barak Violence, Confl., & World Order I. 4 By a law of Henry II, in 1164, it was directed that the sheriff shall make 12 legal men from the neighborhood to swear that they will make known the truth according to their conscience.
legal memory n. = time of memory n. 2 at memory n. Phrases 4.
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1689 W. Atwood Ld. Chief Justice Herbert's Acct. Examined 61 Time of legal Memory is well known to extend to the Reign of R. 1.
1792 R. Wooddeson Systematical View Laws of Eng. I. ix. 257 Their authority is a new power, created by statute, within time of legal memory, and to be construed with strictness.
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’.
2001 Times (Nexis) 14 Nov. These [sc. the principles of natural justice] pre-date both Parliament and the limits of legal memory in 1189, and therefore no lawyer is entitled to a professional opinion on the source of their authority.
legal pad n. a pad of ruled legal paper (see sense A. 5).
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society > communication > writing > writing materials > material to write on > paper > [noun] > paper for legal use
brief-paper1796
legal cap1844
briefing-post1865
bond papera1877
legal pad1882
brief1923
society > communication > writing > writing materials > material to write on > paper > [noun] > pad of paper
paper-book1548
writing book1580
pad1857
writing block1861
tablet1867
writing tablet1874
writing pad1880
legal pad1882
block1908
1882 Rep. Expenditures by Clerk of House of Representatives 97 (table) in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (47th Congr., 2nd Sess.: House of Representatives Misc. Doc. 11) I For 3 legal pads, 35 cents.
1884 Argus (New Philadelphia, Ohio) 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.’
legal person n. a person who has full legal rights, being neither outlawed, excommunicated, nor in any way disqualified from appearing in courts of law; cf. legal man n.
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1689 S. Johnson Remarks Dr. Sherlock's Bk. 40 The next thing requisite to a Person being Commissionated is that he be a Legal Person.
1870 Jrnl. Speculative Philos. 4 164 The universal right is that through which everybody, independent of his or her property, is a legal person.
2009 F. A. Sheth in M. Ortega & L. M. Alcoff Constructing Nation v. 113 Thus to be a citizen is to be a ‘legal person’,..distinguished from ‘unofficial’ or ‘illegal’ denizens of a polity.
legal positivism = positivism n. 3.
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society > law > jurisprudence > [noun] > theories or doctrines of the law
rule of law?c1500
epiky1508
equity1528
renvoi1675
legal positivism1870
positivism1927
realism1930
legalitarianism1962
critical race theory1989
1870 E. Mulford Nation xvi. 288 It is this recognition of justice as existent in the necessary relations of men, which is the precedent of the common law, and the condition of its legal positivism.
1952 H. Kelsen Princ. Internat. Law iv. a iii. 310 It is with respect to the nature of these sources of law that the natural-law doctrine is opposed to legal positivism, which considers custom, legislation, and treaties as law-creating facts.
1994 Judicature Mar. 242/1 The two fundamental building blocks of that conception, legislative supremacy and legal positivism, have lost their philosophical and practical appeal.
legal practice n. (a) the carrying out or exercise of the profession of law; (b) the business or premises of a lawyer or law firm.
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society > law > legal profession > [noun] > practice of
practice1421
solicitation1492
law-craft1587
lawyering1676
legal practice1789
lawyership1881
1789 ‘Falkland’ Rev. Principal Characters Irish House of Commons 35 The son of the Lord Chancellor, if a lawyer, may be secure of legal practice and promotion.
1842 N.Y. Evangelist 31 Mar. 50/4 The Rev. Wm. Whitehorne..resigned a legal practice worth more than $6000 per annum, to be a missionary.
1893 H. K. Hines Illustr. Hist. State Washington 508/2 He was engaged in legal practice until 1877.
1946 Times 24 Sept. 7/5 (Obituary) Lord Cautley..combined an expert knowledge of agriculture with a successful legal practice and membership of the House of Commons.
1989 M. Glazer & P. M. Glazer Whistleblowers iv. 112 Daly..asserts that in all his years of legal practice, he has never seen a case handled so poorly by the government.
2014 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 15 Mar. hs 24 The merger is really good news for clients and ambitious young Scottish lawyers that want to be part of a global legal practice.
legal proceeding n. (usually in plural) (a step taken in) a legal action or lawsuit.
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1604 Proclam. James I Name & Stile King of Great Brittaine 20 Oct. f. iii Any thing herein conteined doe extend to any Legall proceeding, Instrument, or Assurance, vntill further Order be taken in that behalfe.
1742 Dublin Gaz. 28 Sept. 4/2 The Prince Bishop of Liege has just issued a Decree for putting a Stop to all legal Proceedings that have been already begun.
1835 A. E. Cockburn Corporations Eng. & Wales 315 The constitution of this corporation has been recently the subject of legal proceedings.
1987 A. Miller Timebends (1988) viii. 592 An expensive legal proceeding that had forced him to mortgage his family home and scratch around for a living for six years.
2014 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 5 July 14 A spokesman added: ‘It would be inappropriate to comment further given the ongoing legal proceedings.’
legal professional privilege n. Law the legal right to protection against disclosure of communications between an attorney and client regarding the giving and receiving of legal advice.Not in North American use, where the equivalent term is attorney-client privilege: see attorney–client privilege at attorney n. Compounds 2.
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1885 E. Bray Princ. & Pract. Discov. 301 The Discovery will involve the Disclosure..of private and confidential Communications..except as to Matters falling within the Doctrine of legal professional Privilege.
1972 Mod. Law Rev. 35 84 Goff J. accepted the plaintiff's argument that if the original [document] were protected by legal professional privilege, then the copy must necessarily be confidential.
2021 Impact Financial News (Nexis) 23 Dec. In litigation, withholding documents from disclosure on the basis of legal professional privilege is often a bone of contention between parties and can result in the court having to intervene.
legal representation n. the action or fact of representing a party in legal matters or proceedings; occasionally = legal representative n. (b).
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1680 W. Atwood Jani Anglorum Facies Nova 13 All the Proprietors..were present in Person or Legal Representation, when ever a general or universal Law was made that bound the Kingdom.
1700 S. Stoddard Doctr. Instituted Churches ix. 30 These [sc. the Synod] are a legal representation of the Churches.
1784 European Mag. & London Rev. June 460/2 Mr. Fox presented a petition from the Electors of Westminster..with the additional complaint, that they were deprived of their legal representation.
1895 tr. E. Ferri Criminal Sociol. iii. 171 The collection of evidence, during which we can admit the legal representation of the accused, especially for the sake of eliciting both sides of the question.
2014 Irish Times (Nexis) 30 June (Finance section) 7 The right to legal representation is considered by all civilised countries to be a fundamental right.
legal representative n. (a) an heir or executor of the personal estate of a deceased person; = personal representative n. (a) at personal adj., n., and adv. Compounds; (b) a person (now usually a barrister, solicitor, or attorney) responsible for representing another, or an establishment, in a legal capacity; = personal representative n. (b) at personal adj., n., and adv. Compounds.
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1672 D. F. Statuta Vetera 55 In case there be no children nor any legal representatives of them, then one moyetie of the said Estate to be allotted to the wife of the intestate.
1714 R. Steele Crisis 25 Both Kingdoms, by the Legal Representatives, consented to be dissolved and exist no longer, but be resolved into, and United in one Kingdom.
1862 W. Collins No Name in All Year Round 22 Nov. 244/1 He took the position, nevertheless; acting as legal representative of the sole Executor under the second Will.
1932 Jrnl. Compar. Legislation & Internat. Law 3rd. Ser. 14 49 If there is no other legal representative of the estate the Minister may cause an official administrator to take possession of the property and administer the same.
1988 M. S. Larson in R. L. Abel & P. S. C. Lewis Lawyers in Society x. 437 The distribution of economic resources must allow the weaker party to obtain the services of a legal representative.
2013 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 1 Aug. hs5 Neither the couple nor their legal representatives attended the hearing.
legal residence n. chiefly North American the residence (residence n.1 4a) of a person or business for legal purposes; = domicile n. 2a.
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1723 L. Braddon To pay Old Debts without New Taxes 7 His Last Legal Residence, was in Berwick upon Tweed.
1834 Daily National Intelligencer (Washington) 6 Oct. I am a traveller, and my legal residence is Zion Hill, Westchester county.
1905 D. G. Phillips in Ainslee's Sept. 30/1 Updegraff.., keeping Denver as his legal residence and exploiting himself as a Western man.
2014 Irish Times (Nexis) 16 June (Finance section) 2 The transaction may be structured as a tax inversion, allowing Medtronic to move its legal residence to Ireland.
legal resident n. chiefly North American a person who is officially recognized as being resident in a particular place, as a result of meeting specific conditions.
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1786 T. Caldecott Rep. Cases Justice of Peace 1 119 They..found him by that rule to have been a legal resident as a servant for forty days.
1899 C. E. Hamlin Life & Times Hannibal Hamlin 283 The pro-slavery mobs..stuffed more ballots into the boxes than there were legal residents in the territory.
1922 High School Jrnl. 5 38/1 Students can be recognized as candidates [for scholarships] only when legal residents of the States from which they desire to be appointed.
2011 J. M. Bessette & J. J. Pitney Amer. Govt. & Politics iv. 119 Prior to 2002, legal residents could apply for citizenship after three years in the U.S. military.
legal separation n. a legally authorized separation whereby a couple, while officially remaining married, are allowed or ordered to live apart; = judicial separation n. at judicial adj. and n. Compounds.
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society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > divorce or dissolution > [noun] > separation
separation1600
legal separation1668
1668 L. Willan Perfect States-man xxxvii. 128 A Legal Separation is such, as by due course of Law becomes imposed on complaint, and by due course of Law, may with consent of Parties be repealable.
1791 Parl. Reg. 1781–96 XXIX. 593 That was a divorce from bed and board—a legal separation.
1874 A. Trollope Phineas Redux I. xxviii. 228 If you could bring yourself to face the publicity, you could, I imagine, obtain a legal separation.
1922 Times 28 June 9/2 The Princess is a Roman Catholic, and her marriage..was never dissolved; there was a legal separation.
2013 Irish Times (Nexis) 29 Aug. (World section) 9 Neither star has filed for divorce nor moved toward a legal separation.
legal-size adj. North American (a) (of envelopes, folders, etc.) designed to hold legal paper (see sense A. 5); (b) (of paper) measuring 8½ by 14 inches (approx. 22 by 35.5 cm).Cf. sense A. 5 and also legal cap n. and adj., legal pad n.
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1863 Rep. Secretary of Navy in Executive Documents U.S. House of Representatives (38th U.S. Congress, 1st Sess.) IV. No. 1. 731 (list of stationery) 7,400 legal size envelopes, white, gummed.
1898 Goshen (Indiana) Daily News 24 Jan. 2/2 These questions are printed on legal size paper and cover four pages.
1916 Bookman Oct. 155/1 Mrs. London copies the manuscript with a typewriter on legal-size sheets of paper.
1966 Ebony Mar. 71/1 The bare bones of this story rest in a legal-size, vanilla-colored folder marked Coroner's Case 20813.
1980 W. S. Pierce Furnishing Libr. Interior iii. 83 Letter-size vertical file cabinets are approximately 15 in. (375 mm) wide and legal-size are approximately 18 in. (450 mm) wide.
2012 D. Bosler Mastering Type v. 136 In the event legal-size paper is still not large enough, 11 x 17 paper can be used.
legal-sized adj. North American = legal-size adj.
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1859 I. Toucey in Executive Documents U.S. House of Representatives (35th Congress, 2nd Sess.) No. 22 74 (list of stationery) 6,000 legal sized envelopes, white.
1938 E. P. Alexander Revolutionary Conservative Bibliogr. 243 There are eight legal-sized filing drawers of manuscripts of the greatest value.
2012 USA Today (Nexis) 16 Mar. (Life section) 2 d He wielded a stash of legal-sized pages from which he delivered a well-prepared, humorous lecture about his musical forebears.
legal tender n. coin or other money, which a creditor is bound by law to accept when tendered in payment of a debt.
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society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > [noun] > coins and notes > kind of money > current or legal
lawful1533
going1591
pass-gilt1657
real money1675
legal tender?1730
legal tender1740
?1730 Reasons offered to Parl. for lessening National-debts & Taxes 3/1 The prodigious scarcity of our Silver-Coin, which is the Chief, If not the only Legal Tender among us.
1865 H. Phillips Amer. Paper Currency II. 49 The Virginia convention had made the continental bills a legal tender.
2011 C. Bamford Princ. Internat. Financial Law ii. 13 Whether particular notes or coins are given the status of legal tender depends on statute.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online December 2022).
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