Legalization is the process of removing a legal prohibition against something which is currently illegal. Corruption Jurisprudence Philosophy of law Law (principle) List of legal abbreviations Legal code Intent Letter versus Spirit Natural Justice Natural law Religious law Witness intimidation Legal research External links Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Law Look up law in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Law, Legal Definitions... This article is about law in society. ...

Legalization is a process often applied to what are now regarded as consensual crimes, such as homosexuality, or the consumption of illegal drugs. It should be contrasted with decriminalization, which removes criminal charges from an offence but still has laws and regulations on it. A consensual or victimless crime is a crime where all of those involved in the act give consent, and no third parties suffer as a direct result. ... Since its coining, the term homosexuality has aquired multiple meanings. ... Retail selling Street selling is the bottom of the chain and can be accomplished through purchasing from prostitutes, through cloaked retail stores or refuse houses for users in the act located in red-light districts which often also deal in paraphernalia, dealers marketing merriment at night clubs and other events... Decriminalization is the process of making an action no longer a criminal act in the relevant jurisdiction. ...

It can also occur without political upheaval in the repeal of ancient and no longer relevant laws. A repeal is the removal or reversal of a law. ...

In international law, legalization is the process of certifying a document so that it will be recognized by the legal system of a foreign country. The procedure for legalizing a foreign document varies from country to country: the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents has supplanted this procedure with the use of the apostille in countries that are signatories to that convention. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents is Convention #12 of the Hague Conference on Private International Law. ... Apostille is a French word which means a certification. ...

Those that favor legalization believe that fewer laws give more freedom to citizens. Too many laws can threaten personal freedoms and human rights. They cause overcrowded prison systems, police attenion diverted away from more serious crimes, and higher taxes, borrowed money (bonds) and fines to pay for increased law enforcement, more trials, and food and medical support for criminals in prision. During Prohibition of alcohol, many innocent people were punished for possession of alcohol. A government that passes a law that makes a common action (such as drinking alcohol) illegal risks revolt of the people when millions of people are placed in prison or fined. Crowded prisons cause shorter prison time for serious criminals. For example, murderers are sentenced 20 years to life, but only serve 7 years of real time in the U.S., due to prison overcrowding caused by a prison population doubled with drug offenders. Dutch East India Company bond, issued in 1623. ... Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol. ...

Libertarianism wants legalization of victimless crimes. This article is about libertarianism, a liberal individualist philosophy favoring capitalism (the most common meaning of the term today). ... A victimless or consensual crime is an action which is forbidden by law, yet does not hurt, harm nor violate certain rights of people other than the perpetrator. ...

See:Arguments for and against drug prohibition The prohibition of drugs is a subject of considerable controversy. ...

In video engineering, "legalization" can refer to the process of applying constraints on a video signal to keep it within the limits required for broadcast. Video (from Latin, I see) is the technology of processing electronic signals for representing moving pictures. ...