- legal
- 1447 (implied in legality) "of or pertaining to the law," from L. legalis "legal, pertaining to the law," from lex (gen. legis) "law," possibly related to legere "to gather," on notion of "a collection of rules" (see lecture). Sense of "permitted by law" is from 1647. The O.Fr. form was leial, loial (see leal, loyal). Legalese "the language of legal documents" first recorded 1914.