Also known as: nulls · nullify · nullifies · nullified · nullifying · nullification · nullifications · nullity · nullities · null and void · void
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A legal status indicating that an act, instrument, agreement, or judgment has no legal effect or binding force. The condition arises when an underlying obligation is void, when an agreement violates public policy, or when statutory requirements for validity are not met.
Gary signed a promissory note with an usurious interest rate to borrow from Catherine and granted her a mortgage on his rental building. A court later held the note void. Catherine attempted to foreclose the mortgage against Matthew, who had purchased the building. Because the mortgage secured a void obligation, the security device had no legal effect and Catherine could not foreclose.
After a tenant held over following lease termination, the landlord and incoming tenant included a clause allowing the landlord to change the locks without court process. The controlling state law provided a speedy judicial remedy for recovery of possession. The self-help clause had no legal effect because it violated public policy.
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A seller and buyer agreed that any breach by the buyer would trigger liquidated damages equal to the full contract price plus an additional fifty percent. When the buyer breached, the seller sought the full amount. The clause fixing the damages had no legal effect because the amount was unreasonably large in light of the anticipated harm.
A couple arranged directly with birth parents to adopt an infant without using a licensed agency or complying with state adoption statutes. The couple filed a petition claiming the private agreement created a valid adoption. The arrangement had no legal effect because adoption exists only by statute and the parties had not followed the required procedures.
An elderly settlor executed a trust naming a caregiver as sole beneficiary after the caregiver isolated the settlor from family and pressured daily for changes to the estate plan. Family members challenged the trust. The trust had no legal effect to the extent its creation resulted from undue influence.
A prosecutor gave a detailed press conference describing evidence and witness statements in a pending high-profile case. The state bar sought discipline under a trial-publicity rule containing a vague safe-harbor provision for statements made without elaboration. The disciplinary application had no legal effect because the rule was unconstitutionally vague as applied to the prosecutor's political speech.
A mortgage has no legal effect when the underlying obligation is void, such as when a promissory note is declared void for usury. The security device cannot exist independently of a valid debt, so foreclosure is unavailable even against a subsequent purchaser who took subject to the recorded mortgage.
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A clause fixing damages has no legal effect if the amount is unreasonably large in light of anticipated or actual harm, the difficulty of proving loss, and the feasibility of other remedies. Courts treat such a term as a penalty and refuse to enforce it.
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When state law supplies a speedy judicial remedy for recovering possession from a holdover tenant, any lease clause permitting the landlord to resort to self-help instead is against public policy and has no legal effect.
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Adoption has no legal effect unless created by statute. Because the UCCJEA excludes adoption proceedings and many states have not adopted the Uniform Adoption Act, jurisdiction and validity depend entirely on compliance with each state's adoption statutes.
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A trust has no legal effect to the extent its creation was induced by fraud, duress, or undue influence. The defect voids the trust only to that extent and leaves any unaffected portions intact.
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…be mockery. The particular phraseology of the Constitution confirms the principle that a law repugnant to the Constitution is void and that courts as well as other departments are bound by that instrument. Therefore the Judiciary Act insofar as it purports to extend the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction beyond that…