The following is a transcript of "The Legal Lad's Quick and Dirty Tips for a More Lawful Life," a podcast from QuickAndDirtyTips.com. The audio program is available via RSS feed here and at TheStreet.com's podcast home page.
Hello, and welcome to a special joint episode of
Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing and
Legal Lad's Quick and Dirty Tips for a More Lawful Life.
Grammar Girl
Grammar Girl here. Today's topic is
illegal vs.
unlawful. Here's a question from Jed in Washington, D.C.
From my seat on the bus, I could see a big sign listing things that were unlawful to do on the bus (such as eat, listen to loud music, etc.) I was curious if this word carried less force than illegal, even though they both seem to mean the same thing according to a few dictionaries that I checked.
Thanks Jed! I have some language-related comments, but I'm bringing in Legal Lad to answer the meat of your question.
Legal Lad
Great question, Jed.
But first, a disclaimer: Although I am an attorney, the legal information in this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for seeking personalized legal advice from an attorney licensed to practice in your jurisdiction. Further, I do not intend to create an attorney-client relationship with any listener.
The short answer is that there is a slight semantic difference between the two words, but no difference with regard to criminal punishment.
Grammar Girl
The prefixes
il- and
un- both mean the same thing -- they mean "not." So do both of these words mean "not lawful"?
Legal Lad
Black's Law Dictionary defines unlawful as "not authorized by law, illegal." Illegal is defined as "forbidden by law, unlawful." Semantically, there is a slight difference. It seems that something illegal is expressly proscribed by statute, and something unlawful is just not expressly authorized.
Jaywalking is a good example of an unlawful act. Traffic regulations do not typically say that you cannot walk diagonally through an intersection. So, it is not illegal. Rather, traffic regulations typically provide that you can cross within a crosswalk when the little walky-man appears. Crossing in any other way is unlawful because it is not expressly permitted.
Michael Flynn
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