What is Legal Size Paper?: Size and Functions

Legal-size paper is known for its broad use for legal documents and other forms in North America, especially in the United States and Canada. This-sized paper is called legal because it is used for the standardization that is used for legal officers or lawyers in order to write some notes or important documents, such as contracts, agreements, or others administration field. However, the paper sizes are different from each other based on the region and its functions due to its complex history. In this article, we will learn about what is legal size paper and why legal size paper is important for our daily lives, along with the different what is legal size paper and other international standard papers. 

What is legal size paper and its history?

What is legal size paper? Legal size paper in the United States is popular for paper with a size of 8.5 x 14 inches. This paper has a nickname, called American Foolscap or only Foolscap. This nickname is derived from the size because it has the right size to be folded to make a dunce’s cap. The history of legal size paper in the United States begins since early 20th century to promote the standardization for commercial purposes and reduce the waste due to the different paper sizes. 

Meanwhile, the term foolscap has rooted from the foolscap tradition in the United Kingdom when Henry VII ruled. However, the size of foolscap paper in the United Kingdom and the United States is different. Basically, the paper size in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries is different from each other. This led to the development of an international standard, which is called the ISO 126 standard, or popular to be called A4, to standardize the paper format. 

Dimension specification of legal-size paper

After understanding what is legal size paper? You need to know the dimension specification of legal-size paper, which can be differentiated based on the measurement unit. Here are the details of the legal-size paper unit in the United States. 

• Legal paper size in inches: 8.5 x 14 inches
• Legal size paper in mm: 216 x 356 mm
• Legal size paper in cm: 21.6 x 35.6 cm
• Aspect ratio of legal-size paper: 1:1.6471

The legal size paper is widely used in North America, especially for the legal industry. The use of the legal size paper is very useful for lawyers or legal professionals because it has room in one piece of paper to ensure that all of the information or the agreement in one paper. Therefore, no need to add extra paper to make a contract or other legal documents. 

North American Paper Size

Not only grasping what is legal size paper, but we also need to understand all the types of paper in the North American region, especially in the United States, Canada, and parts of Mexico. Please, take a look at the table of types of paper based on their sizes in North America. 

Based on the paper format above, we can see that not only is there one legal size paper, but also there are government legal and junior legal formats. This shows that what is legal size paper, not only one, can be classified further into other applications, such as for the government standard. On the other hand, a letter can also be differentiate with common letter format paper and a government letter, which is specifically for the government. 

Comparison of the legal size paper to other international standard papers

In order to get more information about what is legal size paper or other paper sizes are in the United States, we can compare them with other international standard papers. Here is the comparison table for the paper format in the United States and all of the international standard paper sizes. 

From the table above, it clearly shows that the standard paper in the United States or the North American region is quite similar in size to A4. Meanwhile, the international standard papers vary in size from very big A0 to a small size paper A10. They have their own function based on their sizes, and this standard is developed to accommodate the necessity of paper standardization around the world. 

The A series paper has been developed since 1975, and it follows the rules from ISO 216. These international standard papers have a proportion following the aspect ratio √2 that was invented by Walter Porstmann and implemented into the German DIN 476. Other than the A series, there are the B series and the C series of paper sizes. Yet, the B and C series are not as popular as the A series because they are not commonly used in the office. 

Application of all-sized papers

After understanding the comparison between the North American standard papers, including what is legal size paper and the international standard based on ISO 216, we might need to know the application for all sized papers. Grasping the application of the papers is crucial for anyone who works in publishing companies or a regular office. Even though digitalization is increasing rapidly, the use of paper also needs to be understood by ordinary people or workers, from writing articles to creating graphic design. Here is the application of all sized papers. 

Conclusion 

Nowadays, we can use the standard paper size for all of our documents easily. However, the actual determination of standard paper size is indeed complicated and different from one country to another. The International standardization of paper is important to ensure that paper is suitable for various needs. Still, some countries like the United States has its own standard paper, such as for legal documents. This country still prefers to use the legal size paper in order to create business contracts, agreements, or other legally related documents. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about What is Legal Size Paper

1. What is legal size paper used for? 

Similar to its name, what is legal size paper is actually the paper used by legal professionals and lawyers to create a legal document in the United States. This type of paper is chosen to ensure that all of the information can be included in one piece of paper. 

2. What are the main differences between legal size paper and international standard paper? 

Based on the explanation of what is legal size paper, the main difference between legal size paper and international standard paper is in the size. The legal size paper is 8.5 x 14 inches, and the international standard or A4 paper is 8.25 x 11.75 inches. 

3. Why do people use legal size paper instead of international standard paper? 

People use the legal size paper for legal documents because it has more room to include all of the information can be included in one piece of paper. If they are using A4, the legal information must be separated to a second page. 

4. Why did the United States invent the legal-size paper? 

The United States invented legal-size paper and other standard papers for use in the country. This is based on the regulation from the United States government to standardize paper for commercial purposes in the early 20th century. 

5. What is legal size paper preferred over A4-size paper? 

The legal size paper is the standard paper in the United States that is quite similar in size to the A4 paper. However, the A4 is shorter than legal size paper; therefore, for creating legal documents, legal professionals prefer legal size paper to A4 paper. 

6. What is the largest A series paper from international standard papers? 

The biggest A series paper from ISO 216 is A0 size paper. This paper has a size of 33.125 x 46.75 inches, and it is mostly used for large-scale drawings, such as creating cadastral maps, architectural planning, or infrastructure planning. 

7. Are the legal paper has printing issues? 

Yes, legal size paper is mostly not compatible with most printers. This is because most of the printer’s defaults are designed to print letter size paper or A4 paper rather than legal size paper. In order to tackle this problem, you can modify the printer settings to legal size paper with a size of 8.5 x 14 inches.