Definition of Color of law

1. Noun. A mere semblance of legal right; something done with the apparent authority of law but actually in contravention of law. "The plaintiff claimed that under color of law the officer had deprived him of his civil rights"

Exact synonyms: Colour Of Law
Generic synonyms: Color, Colour, Gloss, Semblance
Category relationships: Jurisprudence, Law

Lexicographical Neighbors of Color Of Law

color circle
color code
color commentator
color commentators
color constancy
color coordinate
color coordinated
color coordinates
color coordinating
color fade
color force
color forces
color guard
color in
color line
color of law (current term)
color pop
color property
color scheme
color sergeant
color space
color spectrum
color television
color television system
color television tube
color triangle
color tube
color up
color vision
color vision deficiency

Literary usage of Color of law

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Lawyers' Reports Annotated by Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company (1905)
"But in public affairs, where the people have organized themselves, under color of law, into the ordinary municipal bodies, and have gone on year after year ..."

2. Cyclopedia of Law and Procedure by William Mack, Howard Pervear Nash (1903)
"... it is applied has not the real character imputed to it.21 (Color : In Pleading, see PLEADING. Of Law, see color of law. Of Office, see COLOE OF OFFICE. ..."

3. The New-York Legal Observer by Samuel Owen (1854)
"And in that petition he further alleges that the said warrant was without color of law, and that there waa no evidence before said Nelson that the relator ..."

4. The American State Reports: Containing the Cases of General Value and by Abraham Clark Freeman (1908)
"A de facto corporation is one existing under color of law: Foster v. Hare, 26 Tex. Civ. App. 177, 62 SW 541. The expression is ordinarily used to denote ..."

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