laillisesta

Laillisesta is the elative singular form of the Finnish adjective laillinen, meaning legal or lawful. In Finnish, adjectives inflect for case and number, and laillinen follows the standard pattern. The elative singular laillisesta is used when the noun it modifies is in the elative case, for example laillisesta toiminnasta (from legal activity) or laillisesta päätöksestä (from the legal decision). The form is common in formal, legal, political, and academic writing.

Usage and related forms: laillisesti is the adverb meaning legally, while laillisuus refers to legality as a noun. Other related terms include laillistaminen (regularization) and laillistuva (legalizing). The elative form laillisesta does not change meaning on its own beyond its grammatical role; its interpretation depends on the noun it accompanies and the surrounding context.

Etymology and context: laillinen derives from laki, the Finnish word for law, with the suffix -llinen forming an adjective meaning “pertaining to.” The construction laillisesta is thus a standard inflected form used to express sourcing, origin, or relation to law in sentences that require the elative case.

See also: laillinen, laillisuus, laillistaminen.