void

views updated May 21 2018

void / void/ • adj. 1. not valid or legally binding: the contract was void. ∎  (of speech or action) ineffectual; useless: all the stratagems you've worked out are rendered void. 2. completely empty: void spaces surround the tanks. ∎  (void of) free from; lacking: what were once the masterpieces of literature are now void of meaning. ∎ formal (of an office or position) vacant. 3. (in bridge and whist) having been dealt no cards in a particular suit.• n. 1. a completely empty space: the black void of space. ∎  an emptiness caused by the loss of something: the void left by the collapse of communism. ∎  an unfilled space in a wall, building, or structure. 2. (in bridge and whist) a suit in which a player is dealt no cards.• v. [tr.] 1. declare that (something) is not valid or legally binding: the Supreme Court voided the statute. 2. discharge or drain away (water, gases, etc.). ∎  chiefly Med. excrete (waste matter). ∎  [usu. as adj.] (voided) empty or evacuate (a container or space).DERIVATIVES: void·a·ble adj.void·ness n.

Void

views updated May 23 2018

VOID

That which is null and completely without legal force or binding effect.

The term void has a precise meaning that has sometimes been confused with the more liberal term voidable. Something that is voidable may be avoided or declared void by one or more of the parties, but such an agreement is not void per se.

A void contract is not a contract at all because the parties are not, and cannot be, bound by its terms. Therefore, no action can be maintained for breach of a void contract, and it cannot be made valid by ratification. Because it is nugatory, a void contract need not be rescinded or otherwise declared invalid in a court of law.

A void marriage is one that is invalid from its inception. In contrast to a voidable marriage, the parties to a void marriage may not ratify the union by living together as husband and wife. No divorce or annulment is required. Nevertheless, parties frequently do seek, and are permitted to seek, such a decree in order to remove any doubt about the validity of the marriage. Unlike a voidable marriage, a void marriage can be challenged even after the death of one or both parties.

In most jurisdictions a bigamous marriage, one involving a person who has a living spouse from an undissolved prior marriage, is void from the outset. In addition, statutes typically prohibit marriage between an ancestor and descendant; between a brother and a sister (whether related by whole blood, half blood, or adoption); and between an uncle and niece or aunt and nephew.

A judgment entered by a court is void if a court lacks jurisdiction over the parties or subject matter of a lawsuit. A void judgment may be entirely disregarded without a judicial declaration that the judgment is void and differs from an erroneous, irregular, or voidable judgment. In practice, however, an attack on a void judgment is commonly used to make the judgment's flaw a matter of public record.

A law is considered void on its face if its meaning is so vague that persons of ordinary intelligence must guess at its meaning and may differ as to the statute's application (Connally v. General Construction Co., 269 U.S. 385, 46 S. Ct. 126, 70 L. Ed. 2d 322 [1926]). due process requires that citizens receive fair notice of what sort of conduct to avoid. For example, a Cincinnati, Ohio, city ordinance made it a criminal offense for three or more persons to assemble on a sidewalk and conduct themselves in a manner that was annoying to passersby. A conviction carried the possibility of a $50 fine and between one and thirty days imprisonment. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the convictions of several persons found guilty of violating the ordinance after a demonstration and picketing (Coates v. Cincinnati, 402 U.S. 611, 91 S. Ct. 1686, 29 L. Ed. 2d 214 [1971]). The Court ruled that the ordinance was unconstitutionally vague because it subjected citizens to an unascertainable standard. Stating that "conduct that annoys some people does not annoy others," the Court said that the ordinance left citizens to guess at the proper conduct required. The Court noted that the city could lawfully prohibit persons from blocking the sidewalks, littering, obstructing traffic, committing assaults, or engaging in other types of undesirable behavior through "ordinances directed with reasonable specificity toward the conduct to be prohibited."

cross-references

Bigamy; Consanguinity; Void for Vagueness Doctrine.

Vac

views updated May 11 2018

VAC

VAC (Hung. Vác ; Ger. Waitzen ), city in N. central Hungary. A Jewish community was organized in Vac after the publication of the law on free residence (1841). A permanent synagogue was erected in 1864. After the separation (1869), it retained its former orientation of status quo *ante. The elementary school of the community was established in 1857, and a secondary school for girls in 1922. The majority of the members of the community were merchants, contractors, and craftsmen. The first rabbi of the community was Anshel Neumann (1832–62) and its last rabbi was Sh.F. (Fülöp) Pollak (until 1944), who was deported together with the community. The Orthodox community had already been founded in 1868, and its synagogue and school were opened in 1882. Its rabbis were David Judah Leib *Silberstein (1876–84), his son Isaiah Silberstein (1884–1930), and his grandson Leib Silberstein (1935–44). In 1885 a yeshivah was established. D.Z. *Katzburg published the Torah periodical Tel-Talpiyyot (from 1892 to 1938) in Vac. There were five Jews in Vac in 1840; 139 in 1869; 2,131 in 1910; 2,059 in 1920; 1,854 in 1941; and 377 in 1946. After the German invasion (March 19, 1944), the Jews of Vac were deported to Auschwitz, and only a few survived.

[Baruch Yaron]

Vāc

views updated May 23 2018

Vāc (Skt., from vac, ‘speech’). The Hindu goddess of speech, the manifestation of sound. From early Vedic times, reliance on the sacred oral teachings ‘heard’ by the ṛṣis, properly intoned and accented, thrust the folk-divinity Vāc into prominence. In the Tantric tradition she is also celebrated as Para-vāc, Transcendental Speech, the mother of all sacred mantras.

void

views updated May 29 2018

void not occupied, empty XIII; ineffective, useless XIV; having no legal force XV; sb. empty space XVII. — OF. voide, dial. var. of vuide (mod. vide) fem., superseding vuit m.:- Rom. *vocitus pp. formation on *voc-, repr. also in L. vocīvus, with parallel *vac- of vacāre (see VACANT).

vac-ice process

views updated May 29 2018

vac‐ice process Alternative name for freeze‐drying.

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