Legal Definitions - cassare

cassare

Historically, cassare was a legal term meaning to quash or nullify. It referred to the act of declaring something, such as an agreement, a law, or a formal legal order (a writ), to be void and without legal effect, as if it never legally existed.

• Imagine a situation in a medieval kingdom where a local magistrate issued a decree that confiscated a farmer's land without any legitimate reason or due process. If a higher court or the monarch's council reviewed the magistrate's actions and found them to be unlawful, they might formally cassare the original decree. This means they would declare the decree null and void, effectively canceling its legal force and potentially restoring the farmer's land.

• Consider an ancient guild's internal rules that required all new members to perform an impossible task as an initiation rite. Over time, as legal principles evolved and emphasized fairness and reasonableness, a higher authority overseeing guilds might have intervened to cassare this particular rule. By doing so, they would nullify the rule, making it unenforceable and ensuring future initiates were not subjected to such an unreasonable demand.

• In a historical context, if two parties entered into a contract for the sale of goods, but it was later discovered that one party was coerced into the agreement through threats or significant undue influence, a court or legal body could cassare the contract. This action would void the agreement from its inception, meaning it would be treated as if it never legally existed, and neither party would be bound by its terms.