HTTP 451 — Unavailable For Legal Reasons

The server operator has received a legal demand to deny access to the resource.

Status CodeHTTP 451

CategoryClient Error (4xx)

API Error Subtypes0 error schemas

HTTP Headers0 headers

What does HTTP status code 451 mean?

The 451 Unavailable For Legal Reasons status code (RFC 7725) indicates that the resource is inaccessible due to legal demands (e.g. copyright takedowns, censorship, or court orders).

When to use it in APIs

Use when regional censorship, licensing limits, or court-mandated takedowns block API access to certain data subsets.

How it compares to other codes

403 Forbidden: A general permission failure. 451 is an explicit disclosure of legal restriction.

Specific API Error Types for 451

No specific Problem+JSON schemas have been defined for HTTP 451 on apiguide.dev yet.

Associated HTTP Headers

No specific HTTP headers are explicitly linked to HTTP 451 in our directory yet.

Related HTTP Status Codes

HTTP 403 — Forbidden

The client is authenticated but does not have access rights to the content.

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