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One skilled in the laws; a writer on law. Milman. J. Morley.

The state, or quality, of being legitimate, or in conformity with law; hence, the condition of having been lawfully begotten, or born in wedlock. The doctrine of Divine Right, which has now come back to us, like a thief from transportation, under the alias of Legitimacy. Macaulay.

Accordant with law or with established legal forms and requirements; lawful; as, legitimate government; legitimate rights; the legitimate succession to the throne; a legitimate proceeding of an officer; a legitimate heir.

In a legitimate manner; lawfully; genuinely.

The state or quality of being legitimate; lawfulness; genuineness.

Lawful birth. [R.] Shak.

Pertaining to the literature of law.

Lawyerlike; legal. [R.] "Leguleian barbarism." De Quincey. -- n.

atement or meaning; exact signification or requirement. We must observe the letter of the law, without doing violence to the reason of the law and the intention of the lawgiver. Jer. Taylor. I broke the letter of it to keep the sense. Tennyson.

A writ of execution at common law.

Allowable; permissible; lawful. [Obs.] Chaucer.

uniform or average height; a normal plane or altitude; a condition conformable to natural law or which will secure a level surface; as, moving fluids seek a level. When merit shall find its level. F. W. Robertson.

Fit to be levied; capable of being assessed and collected; as, sums leviable by course of law. Bacon.

Of, pertaining to, or in accordance with, a law of the ancient Israelites and other tribes and races, according to which a woman, whose husband died without issue, was married to the husband's brother. The firstborn son of a leviratical marriage was reckoned and registered as the son of the deceased brother. Alford.…

Of or pertaining to, or designating, the law contained in the book of Leviticus. Ayliffe. Levitical degrees, degrees of relationship named in Leviticus, within which marriage is forbidden.

After the manner of the Levites; in accordance with the levitical law.

The third canonical book of the Old Testament, containing the laws and regulations relating to the priests and Levites among the Hebrews, or the body of the ceremonial law.

Belonging to the lower classes, or the rabble; idle and lawless; bad; vicious. [Archaic] Chaucer. But the Jews, which believed not, . . . took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, . . . and assaulted the house of Jason. Acts xvii. 5. Too lewd to work, and ready for any kind of mischief. Southey .…

Law; as, lex talionis, the law of retaliation; lex terræ, the law of the land; lex fori, the law of the forum or court; lex loci, the law of the place; lex mercatoria, the law or custom of merchants.

Law. Abbott.