What is the difference between illegal illegitimate unlawful lawless and illicit?

Answer 1

Black's Law Dictionary defines both the words as follows- è unlawful as not authorized by law, illegal. è 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. So, we can say that "unlawful" refers to something that is more contrary to moral and public law, the law of society, as well as the law of the government. Illegal is more specific in that it refers to something in violation of the law of the government. For example, if we consider a situation in US, consider jaywalking. 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, thus, crossing in any other way is unlawful because it is not expressly permitted. Another good example would be selling cocaine. Under law it is prohibited and the law specifically provides that you may not do so. Thus, selling cocaine would be illegal activity & jaywalking would be unlawful activity. Practically, there is no difference for punishment purposes. Both illegal and unlawful acts can invite punishment.