Legitimacy is a characteristic attributed to everything that complies with what is imposed by legal norms and is considered a good for society, that is, everything that is legitimate.
Normally, this is a feature that is frequently discussed in the legal field, in which it states that a situation or phenomenon is considered correct according to the parameters that the system of laws and regulations establish.
In this sense, the legitimacy of an action or a process occurs when it is in accordance with the rules pre-established by the jurisdiction. A good example is the signatures of employment contracts, which must be established in accordance with the corresponding laws of law.
However, legitimacy can also refer to the characteristics of something that conforms to the moral laws of society, such as justice, reason, among others.
It can be used in countless situations related to political, judicial, economic, social or daily life aspects of people, such as parenthood, marriage, etc.
In these cases, the bonds can be found in various circumstances governed by the law so that they are considered legitimate. Paternity, for example, to be recognized, it is necessary to prove the direct blood tie through the DNA test, which can be requested through a judicial process.
The word legitimacy comes from the Latin term legitimize, which means "enforce the law".
Legitimacy ad cause
Legitimacy can also consist of a legal attribution that gives a person to act in the discussion about a certain litigious legal situation. is the call legitimacy ad cause or procedural legitimacy.
In this case, the person to whom this attribution is conferred is not part of the process, but will be the one who will verify and question whether there is legitimacy within what will be discussed in court. For this, it is necessary to establish a relationship between what is legitimated and what will be discussed.
Generally speaking, only people who are related to the facts presented can act in the judicial process.
In this way, it is assigned to active legitimacy to anyone who has suffered any harm or is being deprived of a right. already the passive legitimacy The person sued is only granted if he is the one who caused the damage or is harming the right pursued in the action.
When the law attributes legitimacy to a single subject, who as a rule is the holder of the right, this is the exclusive legitimacy. When it is assigned to more than one subject, it becomes the competing legitimacy.
On the other hand, if the attribution of legitimacy is given to the holder of the legal relationship and this corresponds with the legitimated person who will defend in his own name, this will be the ordinary legitimacy.
In exceptional cases, where legitimacy is given to someone who may go to court, in their own name, but to defend the interests of another, it is called extraordinary legitimacy or replacement.
Legitimacy and legality
Although the relationship between legitimacy and legality is very close, both words have different meanings.
While the legitimacy deals with authenticity and justification with the general will, through the law, the legality it is the performance of actions in accordance with legal principles.
It is very common, especially in the legal field, they appear related, as there is no denying that everything that is legal is presumably legitimate.
A good example of this is what happens in Public Administration, where legitimacy and legality are identified, since the law is, for the administrator, the vehicle that conveys the legitimacy to its function and its acts. In other words, in administration, only what is legal is legitimate, but not everything that is legal is legitimate.
Learn more about Public administration and the Principles of Public Administration.
Synonyms of legitimacy
It can be replaced by synonyms like:
- originality;
- authenticity;
- integrity;
- genuineness;
- legality;
- justice;
- legality;
- validity;
- legality;
- legality;
- justifiability;
- conformity;
- relevance;
- plausibility;
- acceptability;
- reasonableness;
- logic;
- adequacy;
- foundation;
- coherence.
See also the meaning of Authenticity and Justice.