diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/legend.py b/lib/matplotlib/legend.py
index 928f52c3b8a6..fa75d7c426e5 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/legend.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/legend.py
@@ -367,8 +367,9 @@ def __init__(self, parent, handles, labels,
         # init with null renderer
         self._init_legend_box(handles, labels)
 
-        if framealpha is not None:
-            self.get_frame().set_alpha(framealpha)
+        if framealpha is None:
+            framealpha = rcParams["legend.framealpha"]
+        self.get_frame().set_alpha(framealpha)
 
         self._loc = loc
         self.set_title(title)
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py b/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py
index 7d4d97df1572..bfbd2431fd3e 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py
@@ -632,6 +632,8 @@ def __call__(self, s):
     'legend.shadow': [False, validate_bool],
      # whether or not to draw a frame around legend
     'legend.frameon': [True, validate_bool],
+    # the alpha channel for the frame
+    'legend.framealpha': [1.0, validate_float],
 
 
     ## the following dimensions are in fraction of the font size
diff --git a/matplotlibrc.template b/matplotlibrc.template
index 6edf352f7ae5..73fa6ebbe706 100644
--- a/matplotlibrc.template
+++ b/matplotlibrc.template
@@ -317,6 +317,7 @@ backend      : %(backend)s
 #legend.shadow        : False
 #legend.frameon       : True   # whether or not to draw a frame around legend
 #legend.scatterpoints : 3 # number of scatter points
+#legend.framealpha    : 1.0    # the alpha channel of the frame
 
 ### FIGURE
 # See http://matplotlib.org/api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.Figure