1. An annulment or abrogation; VOIDANCE.
2. The fact or an instance of bringing an estate or status to an end, esp. by conditional limitation.
3. A condition upon the fulfillment of which a deed or other instrument is defeated or made void; a contractual provision containing such a condition.
— Also termed defeasance clause.
4. Hist. A collateral deed made simultaneously with a conveyance and containing a condition by which the main deed might be defeated or made void. — Also spelled defeazance. — defease, vb.
“A defeazance is a collateral deed, made at the same time with a feoffment or other conveyance, containing certain conditions, upon the performance of which the estate then created may be defeated or totally undone.” 2 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 327 (1766).
