Also known as: whenever
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An adverb or conjunction introducing a clause that specifies any time or occasion on which a stated condition holds or an event occurs.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Whitney Washington and Walter Washington signed a marital property agreement. The document granted each spouse rights in property whensoever and wherever acquired. A later inheritance received in another state therefore fell within the agreement's scope.
Walker Valley Produce held a shareholder meeting on a proposed merger. Shares entitled to vote as a separate group could act only if a quorum existed whensoever the articles required a specific threshold. The majority of votes cast by that group therefore satisfied the quorum requirement.
Winston Ward faced criminal charges after committing an offense under threat. The duress defense was unavailable whensoever he had recklessly placed himself in the situation. The court therefore refused to instruct the jury on duress.
Wanda Williams rented an apartment with a leaking roof. After proper notice she placed rent in escrow whensoever the landlord failed to repair the defect. Only the abated portion of rent entered the escrow account.
Westmont Healthcare ordered medical supplies under a long-term contract. The parties' course of performance was construed whensoever reasonable as consistent with the express terms. When inconsistency arose the express terms controlled.
Wrightway Engineering obtained a final judgment containing a typographical error in the damages amount. The court corrected the mistake whensoever it was discovered in the record. The correction occurred on the court's own motion before any appeal was docketed.
Whensoever functions identically to whenever as a temporal conjunction. Modern usage favors whenever, yet whensoever survives in some uniform acts and restatements as an equivalent formal alternative.
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Bar examiners test the substantive rules that contain the word, not the archaic spelling itself. Students must recognize that whensoever introduces the same temporal condition as whenever in statutes and restatements.
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Replacement is permissible and usually improves readability. The meaning remains unchanged because both terms introduce any time or occasion satisfying the stated condition.
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…afford him a remedy? The essence of civil liberty consists in the right of every individual to claim the protection of the laws whenever he receives an injury. It is a general rule that where there is a legal right there is also a legal remedy by suit or action at law. The government of the United States is a government of…