void

Noun: An empty space. Adjective: Constituting a nullity. Binding on neither party and not sub ject to ratification. Anno: 31 ALR 1002. Sometimes construed as "voidable." Hall v Baylous, 109 W Va 1, 153 SE 293, 69 ALR 527. The words "to be void and of no effect" are often used in statutes and legal documents, such as deeds, leases, bonds, mortgages and others, in the sense of voidable, merely, that is, capable of being avoided, and not as meaning that the act or transaction is absolutely a nullity as if it never had existed, incapable of giving rise to any rights or obligations under any circumstances. Thus we speak of conveyances, void as to creditors, meaning that creditors may avoid them, but not others. Leases which contain a forfeiture of the lessee's estate for non-payment of rent, or breach of other condition, declare that on the happening of the contingency the demise shall thereupon become null and void, meaning that the forfeiture may be enforced by re-entry, at the option of the lessor. A deed obtained by fraud is sometimes said to be void, meaning that the party defrauded may elect to treat it as void. Ewell v Daggs, 108 US 143, 149, 27 L Ed 682, 684, 2 S Ct 408. A statutory provision that, in the absence of compliance therewith, a sale in bulk shall be "void" as against creditors of the seller, means that the sale shall be voidable. Evans v Herbranson, 241 Iowa 268, 41 NW2d 113, 15 ALR2d 925.