'legally-held' originates from the combination of 'legal' and 'held', where 'legal' comes from Latin 'legalis', meaning 'pertaining to the law', and 'held' is the past participle of 'hold', from Old English 'healdan', meaning 'to keep or maintain'.

'legally-held' changed from the Old English word 'healdan' combined with 'legalis' to form the modern English term 'legally-held'.

Initially, it meant 'to keep or maintain according to the law', and this meaning has largely remained the same in modern usage.