[f. LEGITIMATE: see -ACY.] The fact of being legitimate.
1. The fact of being a legitimate child.
1691. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), II. 207. A virulent libell … endeavouring to prove the legitimacy of the prince of Wales, is printed.
1754–62. Hume, Hist. Eng., Hen. III., II. 54. It had been formerly usual for the civil courts to issue writs to the spiritual, directing them to inquire into the legitimacy of the person.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng. (1858), I. ii. 107. The innumerable refinements of the Romish canon law, which affected the legitimacy of children.
† b. transf. Genuineness. Obs.
1695. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Earth, I. (1723), 36. The Legitimacy and Reality of these Marine bodies vindicated … I now re-assume my original design.
2. Of a government or the title of a sovereign: The condition of being in accordance with law or principle. Now often, with respect to a sovereign’s title, in a narrower sense: The fact of being derived by regular descent; occas. the principle of lineal succession to the throne, as a political doctrine.
1817. J. Scott, Paris Revisit. (ed. 4), 233. No one … will be found in this country to maintain that mere birth alone constitutes royal legitimacy.
1818. Lady Morgan, Autobiog. (1859), 215. We were seated near the princesses … in the very foyer of ultra legitimacy.
1825. Macaulay, Milton, Ess. (1880), 16. The doctrine of Divine Right, which has now come back to us, like a thief from transportation, under the alias of Legitimacy.
1872. J. L. Sanford, Estim. Eng. Kings, 368. His [Oliver’s] rule only wanted the stamp of legitimacy to entitle it to nearly unmixed praise.
1884. A. R. Pennington, Wiclif, vi. 180. We may differ in opinion as to the legitimacy of Urban or Clement.
3. gen. Conformity to rule or principle; lawfulness. In Logic, conformity to sound reasoning.
1836. J. Gilbert, Chr. Atonem., vi. (1852), 158. It has, however, been objected, that the difference in circumstances forbids the legitimacy of our assumption.
1864. Bowen, Logic, vii. 175. It seems better to test the legitimacy of each step.
1874. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 28. It is easy to see the causes which have led to this large advance, and impossible not to recognize their legitimacy.
1885. J. Rae, in Contemp. Rev., June, 904. An argument … in favour of the legitimacy of such philanthropic labours.
† 4. Austral. slang. (See quot.) Obs.
1827. P. Cunningham, 2 Yrs. N. S. Wales, I. i. 16. The suspicion each entertains of legitimacy being the cause of the other’s appearance. Note, Legitimacy, a colonial term for designating the cause of the emigration of a certain portion of our population; i.e. having legal reasons for making the voyage.
