diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axes.py b/lib/matplotlib/axes.py
index 4b4a6976bb48..46c05d36ac4d 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/axes.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/axes.py
@@ -4356,7 +4356,8 @@ def legend(self, *args, **kwargs):
             settings.
 
           *frameon*: [ True | False ]
-            if True, draw a frame.  Default is True
+            if True, draw a frame around the legend.
+            The default is set by the rcParam 'legend.frameon'
 
           *fancybox*: [ None | False | True ]
             if True, draw a frame with a round fancybox.  If None, use rc
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/legend.py b/lib/matplotlib/legend.py
index f8a272e9e546..31019e9f5f9c 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/legend.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/legend.py
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ def __init__(self, parent, handles, labels,
                  title = None, # set a title for the legend
                  bbox_to_anchor = None, # bbox that the legend will be anchored.
                  bbox_transform = None, # transform for the bbox
-                 frameon = True, # draw frame
+                 frameon = None, # draw frame
                  handler_map = None,
                  ):
         """
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ def __init__(self, parent, handles, labels,
         numpoints          the number of points in the legend for line
         scatterpoints      the number of points in the legend for scatter plot
         scatteryoffsets    a list of yoffsets for scatter symbols in legend
-        frameon            if True, draw a frame (default is True)
+        frameon            if True, draw a frame around the legend. If None, use rc
         fancybox           if True, draw a frame with a round fancybox.  If None, use rc
         shadow             if True, draw a shadow behind legend
         ncol               number of columns
@@ -356,6 +356,8 @@ def __init__(self, parent, handles, labels,
         self._set_artist_props(self.legendPatch)
 
         self._drawFrame = frameon
+        if frameon is None:
+            self._drawFrame = rcParams["legend.frameon"]
 
         # init with null renderer
         self._init_legend_box(handles, labels)
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py b/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py
index a2118b0d4e63..b2ee183ae5f9 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py
@@ -462,6 +462,7 @@ def __call__(self, s):
     'legend.fontsize'    : ['large', validate_fontsize],
     'legend.markerscale' : [1.0, validate_float], # the relative size of legend markers vs. original
     'legend.shadow'        : [False, validate_bool],
+    'legend.frameon'     : [True, validate_bool], # whether or not to draw a frame around legend
 
 
     # the following dimensions are in fraction of the font size
diff --git a/matplotlibrc.template b/matplotlibrc.template
index 60956ce758db..ff41e2fc0119 100644
--- a/matplotlibrc.template
+++ b/matplotlibrc.template
@@ -249,6 +249,7 @@ backend      : %(backend)s
 #legend.handletextsep : 0.02   # the space between the legend line and legend text
 #legend.axespad       : 0.02   # the border between the axes and legend edge
 #legend.shadow        : False
+#legend.frameon       : True   # whether or not to draw a frame around legend
 
 ### FIGURE
 # See http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/api/figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.Figure