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legal capacity

American  
[leeg-uhl-kuh-pas-i-tee] / ˈlig əl kəˈpæs ɪ ti /

noun

legal capacities plural
  1. the legal ability that a person has under the law to assume or occupy a particular role or relationship or to undertake a particular action.


Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The court ruled that lack of legal capacity is not the same as lack of "valid consent" for the purposes of Article 5 of the Human Rights Act.

From BBC • Jun. 2, 2026

There are some non-vacation-related items for your to-do list, as well: create power-of-attorney documents while your husband is of sound mind and has the legal capacity to sign off on them.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 9, 2026

But the state’s current peer program is limited to patients on Medicaid, and unlike designated crisis responders or higher-level providers, peer advocates are limited in their legal capacity to provide care.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 24, 2022

The lockup has held an average of 2,199 detainees each month over the last year, roughly 240 people fewer than the facility’s legal capacity, county officials said.

From New York Times • Dec. 28, 2021

At one point there were as many as fourteen children in there, plus the parents, even though their legal capacity was for only seven.

From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter

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