1. Of no legal effect; null. • The distinction between void and voidable is often of great practical importance. Whenever technical accuracy is required, void can be properly applied only to those provisions that are of no effect whatsoever — those that are an absolute nullity. — void, avoid, vb. — voidness, n.
facially void. (Of an instrument) patently void upon an inspection of the contents.
— Also termed void on its face.
void ab initio (ab i-nish-ee-oh). Null from the beginning, as from the first moment when a contract is entered into. • A contract is void ab initio if it seriously offends law or public policy, in contrast to a contract that is merely voidable at the election of one party to the contract. [Cases: Contracts 98, 136. C.J.S. Contracts §§ 137, 139–140, 145, 153–155, 157, 171, 173–174, 185, 188, 280–281, 286, 296.]
void for vagueness.
1. (Of a deed or other instrument affecting property) having such an insufficient property description as to be unenforceable. [Cases: Deeds 37. C.J.S. Deeds § 53.]
2. (Of a penal statute) establishing a requirement or punishment without specifying what is required or what conduct is punishable, and therefore void because violative of due process.
— Also termed void for indefiniteness. See VAGUENESS DOCTRINE. [Cases: Constitutional Law 258(2); Criminal Law 13.1(1). C.J.S. Criminal Law § 26.]
2. VOIDABLE. • Although sense 1 above is the strict meaning of void, the word is often used and construed as bearing the more liberal meaning of “voidable.”
