Legal Definitions - adnihilare

Adnihilare is a historical legal term that means to completely annul, invalidate, or render something void. Essentially, it refers to the act of making something legally nonexistent, as if it never happened or had no legal effect.

• Example 1: Imagine a medieval king issuing a royal decree that granted certain lands to a particular noble family. Later, a subsequent monarch, perhaps due to political shifts or a change in allegiance, might have used their authority to adnilihare that original decree, thereby revoking the land grant and making it legally void.

  Explanation: This illustrates adnilihare because the later monarch's action effectively cancelled the previous decree, stripping it of all legal force and making the land grant invalid.

• Example 2: Consider a historical trade agreement between two city-states that was signed under duress or based on fraudulent information. If a court or a higher authority later discovered these circumstances, they might have decided to adnilihare the entire agreement.

  Explanation: Here, adnilihare means the agreement is treated as if it never existed legally, nullifying all its terms and obligations due to the underlying invalidity.

• Example 3: In a historical legal system, if a court judgment was found to have been based on a fundamental procedural error or a clear misapplication of law, a higher court or sovereign power might have had the authority to adnilihare that judgment.

  Explanation: This demonstrates adnilihare by showing how a flawed legal decision could be completely wiped out, losing all its legal effect and requiring the matter to be treated as if the judgment had never been rendered.