Legacy world was a term for planets in remote regions of the galaxy that were environmentally-protected and legally exempted from exploitation. Planets with legacy status had a limited visitation and restricted industrial presences. While activities like mining were permitted on these worlds, they were regulated so to be low-impact only. Permanent settlements on Legacy worlds were not permitted. While the concept of Legacy worlds pre-dated the Galactic Empire by generations, during the Imperial Era, the Galactic Empire controlled the process of planets being granted legacy status or having their status maintained and upheld. Environmentalists and scientists sought to have planets such as Alpinn granted the legacy status. While some thought the worlds needed to be preserved, others regarded Legacy worlds as just primitive historical locations. Lyra Erso had an interest in protecting planets with legacy status and visited several of these worlds in the years before the Clone Wars.
Several planets in the Western Reaches, including Samovar and Wadi Raffa, were considered Legacy worlds. Samovar's mining conglomerate had worked to get the Legacy regulations removed, until the Empire targeted it. They hired smugglers to transport old Separatist weaponry to the planet before "exposing" the operations and using it as a means to remove Samovar's legacy status. Meanwhile, on Wadi Raffa, Turlin/Benthic Extraction had been been operating legal underwater mining operations until the Empire stepped in, using the same tactics they had on Samovar. Turlin/Benthic was framed for received illegally-trafficked weaponry, and the Empire removed Wadi Raffa's legacy status before beginning their own operations there.