colour of law

English Thesaurus

1. a mere semblance of legal right; something done with the apparent authority of law but actually in contravention of law (noun.attribute)

hypernym	:	color, colour, gloss, semblance,
definition	:	an outward or token appearance or form that is deliberately misleading (noun.attribute)

domain category	:	jurisprudence, law,
definition	:	the collection of rules imposed by authority (noun.group)