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 legal-size paper is and why it 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 roots in 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 legal-size paper is. 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 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 is in one piece of paper. Therefore, no need to add extra paper to make a contract or other legal documents.
North American Paper Size
Not only grasping what legal-size paper is, 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.
| Paper Format | Width x Height (mm) | Width x Height (inches) |
| Letter | 140 x 216 mm | 5.5 x 8.5 inches |
| Government Letter | 203 x 254 mm | 8.0 x 10.0 inches |
| Junior Legal | 127 x 203 mm | 5.0 x 8.0 inches |
| Legal | 216 x 279 mm | 8.5 x 11.0 inches |
| Government Legal | 216 x 356 mm | 8.5 x 14.0 inches |
| Ledger/Tabloid | 279 x 432 mm | 11.0 x 17.0 inches |
| Half Letter | 140 x 216 mm | 5.5 x 8.5 inches |
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 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.
| Paper Format | Width x Height (mm) | Width x Height (inches) | Region use |
| Legal | 216 x 279 mm | 8.5 x 11.0 inches | North America |
| Letter | 140 x 216 mm | 5.5 x 8.5 inches | North America |
| Ledger or Tabloid | 279 x 432 mm | 11.0 x 17.0 inches | North America |
| A0 | 841 x 1189 mm | 33.125 x 46.75 inches | International standard |
| A1 | 594 x 841 mm | 23.375 x 33.125 inches | International standard |
| A2 | 420 x 594 mm | 16.5 x 23.375 inches | International standard |
| A3 | 297 x 420 mm | 11.75 x 16.5 inches | International standard |
| A4 | 210 x 297 mm | 8.25 x 11.75 inches | International standard |
| A5 | 138 x 210 mm | 5.8 x 8.3 inches | International standard |
| A6 | 105 x 148 mm | 4.1 x 5.8 inches | International standard |
| A7 | 74 x 105 mm | 2.9 x 4.1 inches | International standard |
| A8 | 52 x 74 mm | 2.0 x 2.9 inches | International standard |
| A9 | 37 x 52 mm | 1.5 x 2.0 inches | International standard |
| A10 | 26 x 37 mm | 1.0 x 1.5 inches | International standard |
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 sizes of paper. 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 sizes of paper.
| Paper Format | Paper regular uses |
| Legal | As mentioned above about what legal-size paper is, this paper is uniquely designed for legal purposes. Therefore, this paper is very useful for legal contracts, spreadsheets, business deals, or other legal agreements. |
| Letter | The usage of letter-sized paper is mostly for printer paper. This paper format is also used to facilitate work for a student in school or university, office documents, curriculum vitae, and others. |
| Ledger or Tabloid | Ledger is also commonly called Tabloid paper because it is used widely used for design. This type of paper can be used to make drawings, posters, and other visual designs. |
| A0 | The A0 is the biggest paper in the A series of international standard papers from ISO 216. This paper is used for drawing, especially for large-scale drawings such as cadastral maps, architectural plans, infrastructural planning, posters, or other exhibition designs. |
| A1 | The A1 is the second biggest of the A series of international standard papers. Similar to A0, this paper is used widely for large-scale drawings that do not need as large a paper size as A0. A1 paper is commonly used for architectural drawings, technical plans, signage, or other posters. |
| A2 | The A2 is the third biggest of the A series papers. This paper is commonly used for drawings or designs, such as architectural planning, Computer Aided Design (CAD) drawings, posters, or exhibition graphics. |
| A3 | The A3 is one of the common papers for commercial use. This paper can be used for posters, architectural planning, CAD drawings, and other signage. |
| A4 | The A4 paper is the most commonly used paper nowadays. This type of paper is designed for creating reports, essays, textbooks, or other office documents. |
| A5 | The A5 paper is quite common for commercial use and might be one of the most popular papers in the market. This type of paper is designed for booklets, pamphlets, planners, novels, or other books. |
| A6 | The usage of A6 paper is similar to that of A5. It can be used for small books, postcards, flashcards, invitations, and other types of large cards. |
| A7 | A7 paper is not a common type of paper. This paper has a function for creating notes and tickets. |
| A8 | Similar to the A7, A8 paper is not a popular type of paper in the A series. This paper is designed for creating business cards, driver’s licenses, ATM cards, or other types of small cards. |
| A9 | A9 is the type of paper that is not widely used due to its small size. This paper has a function for creating vouchers in the supermarket and tickets in the cinema. |
| A10 | A10 paper is the smallest in the A series papers. This small-sized paper is only used for designing coupons, tickets, post-stamps, and stickers. |
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 legal-size paper is, the main difference between legal-size paper and international standard paper is in 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 legal-size paper for legal documents because it has more room to include all of the information 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 there printing issues with the legal papers?
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.