defeasible

/di'fi:zəbl/

Thân thiện

A contract can be defeasible under certain conditions.

Definition

Adjective: - Capable of being annulled, voided, or terminated: Describes a right, claim, title, or legal interest that is not absolute and can be legally undone or invalidated under certain specified conditions.

Usage and Examples

• General Usage: The term is primarily used in legal and formal contexts to describe conditional rights or obligations.

  • The contract contained a defeasible clause that would terminate the agreement if funding was not secured.
  • Her ownership of the property was defeasible upon her remarriage.

• Specific Legal Context: Often used concerning estates, trusts, titles, and contracts.

  • The will created a defeasible interest in the land, granting it to the brother only if he used it for farming.
  • A defeasible title is one that is good until a contrary claim is proven.

Advanced Usage

• "Defeasible reasoning": In philosophy and artificial intelligence, this refers to a type of reasoning where conclusions can be overturned by new evidence. It is provisional or non-monotonic.
  • In everyday life, we often rely on defeasible reasoning, making assumptions that we are prepared to revise.

Variants and Related Words

• Defeasibility (noun): The quality or state of being defeasible.
  • The defeasibility of the claim was central to the court's argument.
• Indefeasible (adjective): The opposite; not capable of being annulled or made void.
  • He was granted an indefeasible title to the property.

Synonyms

• Voidable: Capable of being declared invalid.
• Reversible: Able to be changed back or undone.
• Terminable: Capable of being ended.

Antonyms

• Irrevocable: Not able to be changed, reversed, or recovered.
• Absolute: Not qualified or diminished in any way; unconditional.
• Indefeasible: (As above) not liable to be annulled or forfeited.

Notes on Meaning

The core meaning of defeasible centers on a conditional or provisional state, particularly in law. It implies that something is valid until a certain event occurs or a specific condition is met or broken. It does not mean the thing is currently invalid, but that its validity is contingent.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. capable of being annulled or voided or terminated
   • a claim to an estate may be defeasible so long as the claimant is under 21 and unmarried