Legality is the state of being consistent with thelaw, the construct of legalpower, or lawfulness in a givenjurisdiction.^[1]

Feminist theories of law define legality a distinct but related concept to the law, consisting ofsocially-constructed meanings and practices that depend onsocial forces, such as race, gender, and class.^[2] Ewick and Sibley define "legality" as "those meanings, sources of authority, and cultural practices that are commonly recognized as legal, although not necessarily approved nor acknowledged by law."^[3][4]

Incontract law, legality of purpose is required of every enforceable contract. One can not validate or enforce a contract to do activity with unlawful purpose.^[5]

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The principle that no one be convicted of a crime without a written legal text which clearly describes the crime is widely accepted and codified in modern democratic states as a basic requirement of the rule of law. It is known in Latin asnulla poena sine lege.

Nulla poena sine lege is a principle ofinternational human rights law and is incorporated into theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights, theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and theEuropean Convention on Human Rights. Exceptionally underinternational law, criminal offences may include violations of "the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations", such asgenocide,war crimes andcrimes against humanity, even if such offences are not codified or affirmed in judicial precedent. Following theNuremberg trials, scholars ofjurisprudence have debated whether such exceptions are valid for apparently applying retrospective criminal sanctions in the absence of written law.Natural-law theorists argue that crimes such as genocide are, and have always been, illegal under natural law.

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In theUnited Kingdom under the doctrine ofParliamentary sovereignty, the legislature can (in theory) pass such retrospective laws as it sees fit, though article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which has legal force in Britain, forbids conviction for a crime which was not illegal at the time it was committed.

In theUnited States, laws may not violate the stated provisions of theUnited States Constitution, which includes a prohibition on retrospective laws.

• Kelsen, Hans.General Theory of Law and State (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, c. 1945) (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1949) (New York: Russell & Russell, 1961) (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, c. 2006).
• Kelsen, Hans.Principles of international law (New York: Rinehart, 1952) (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1966) (Clark, New Jersey: Lawbook Exchange, 2003).
• Slaughter, Anne-Marie.A new world order (Princeton: Princeton University Press, c. 2004).
• Nye, Joseph S.Soft power (New York : Public Affairs, c2004).
• de Sousa Santos, Boaventura, and Rodríguez-Garavito, César A., eds.Law and globalization from below: towards a cosmopolitan legality (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005)
• Marsh, James L.Unjust legality: a critique of Habermas's philosophy of law (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, c. 2001).
• Sarat, Austin, et al., eds.The limits of law (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005).
• Milano, Enrico.Unlawful territorial situations in international law: reconciling effectiveness, legality and legitimacy (Leiden ; Boston: M. Nijhoff, c. 2006).
• Ackerman, Bruce, ed.Bush v. Gore: the question of legitimacy (New Haven: Yale University Press, c. 2002).
• Gabriel HallevyA Modern Treatise on the Principle of Legality in Criminal Law (Heidelberg: Springer-Heidelberg, c. 2010).

• Analytical jurisprudence
• Legal positivism
• Principle of legality in French criminal law
• Sources of law

Look uplegality in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Cornell LII "Jurisprudence"
• Cornell LII "International law"
• YaleLS Avalon Project, "Documents in Law, History & Diplomacy"

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