meritorious

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
meritorious /ˌmɛrɪˈtɔːrɪəs/

▶adjective

• 1 deserving reward or praise.

• 2 Law, chiefly N. Amer. (of an action) likely to succeed on the merits of the case.

– derivatives
meritoriously adverb,
meritoriousness noun.

– origin ME: from late L. meritorius (from merit-, mereri ‘earn’) + -ous.