Some scholars argue that legitimacy (i.e. the right to rule) should be at the core of criminology as the science of rule making, rule breaking and rule enforcement (Bottoms & Tankebe, 2012; LaFree, 1998; Tyler, 1990). The claim is that legitimacy is a crucial theoretical construct for understanding the link between social order and crime, for explaining the motivations behind compliance with the law, and in bridging the gap between macro- and micro explanations of crime. This chapter reviews the empirical literature on whether legitimacy predicts crime. Findings suggest a weak effect in the predicted direction. However, it also identifies a number of limitations that future research should address. They include: 1) more consistent operationalisation of legitimacy, 2) better statistical control for potential confounding factors, 3) tests for alternative assumptions of the causal order between legitimacy and crime, 4) integration of macro- and micro-level research, and 5) more cross-cultural comparison.