post-legal
|post-leg-al|
🇺🇸
/poʊstˈliːgəl/
🇬🇧
/pəʊstˈliːgəl/
after the law / beyond legal reach
Etymology
'post-legal' is formed from the Latin prefix 'post-' meaning 'after' and the adjective 'legal' from Latin 'legalis' (from 'lex' meaning 'law').
'post-' comes from Latin 'post' (after). 'Legal' evolved from Latin 'legalis' to Old French and then into Middle English as 'legal', giving the modern element 'legal' that combined with English prefixes to form compounds like 'post-legal'.
Originally the components meant 'after' (post-) and 'of or pertaining to law' (legalis); combined in modern usage it has come to mean either 'occurring after legal processes' or 'beyond/formally outside legal regulation.'
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
occurring after or following formal legal proceedings or the application of law; relating to the period or consequences that come after a legal judgment or process.
The agreement produced several post-legal obligations that took effect once the court approved the settlement.
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Adjective 2
outside, beyond, or not governed by formal legal rules or regulation (often used to describe practices, zones, or phenomena that operate apart from statutory law).
In some areas the economy has developed a post-legal set of customs that regulators struggle to address.
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Last updated: 2026/01/04 22:22