according to law
Within legal bounds
According to law describes actions or conditions that comply with legal requirements or statutes.
It appears in formal and legal contexts: The election was conducted according to law.
The phrase can also suggest mere technical compliance rather than genuine justice: Slavery was, according to law, perfectly legal.
- rule of lawSupremacy of established laws
- statutoryEstablished by enacted law
- letter of the lawExact statutory language
- jurisdictionLegal authority's scope
- precedentPrior authoritative example
court order · legitimate · constitutional · ordinance · due process · fair trial · enforceable · code · statute book · de jure · litigation · regulated · binding · authorized · arbitration · mandate · permissible · rights
according to lawillegally
Contrary to law
against the law · unlawfully · criminally · illicitly · prohibited
according to lawillegitimately
In unauthorized manner
unauthorized · unsanctioned · extrajudicially · vigilante · de facto
according to lawlawlessly
Without regard for rules
arbitrarily · anarchically · extrajudicially · outside the law · despotically
accord, according, accords, accorded, accordance, accordant, lawful, unlawful, unlawfully