unlawfulness

From un- +‎ lawful +‎ -ness.

unlawfulness (countable and uncountable, plural unlawfulnesses)

1. (uncountable) The state of being unlawful.

   Synonyms: lawlessness, unlaw, illegality, illegalness

   Antonyms: lawfulness, legality, legalness, law, rule of law

   Coordinate term: illegitimacy

   Near-synonyms: criminality, feloniousness, illicitness

   • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     They plead against the inconvenience, not the unlawfulness, […] of ceremonies in burial.

   • 2012, Yoram Dinstein, The Defence of 'Obedience to Superior Orders' in International Law:

     After all, Cave speaks about orders being so manifestly illegal that the person carrying them out must or ought to have been aware of their unlawfulness. From this alone, one can draw the conclusion that, if the executant of the order actually knows of its unlawfulness, he ought to be convicted, no matter whether the order is or, as in John Doe's case, is not manifestly illegal.

2. (countable) An unlawful act.

   Hyponyms: crime, misdemeanor, felony

   Near-synonyms: offense; outrage