ab initio
Meaning. From the beginning; treated as having had no legal effect from the very start.
A thing void ab initio is treated in law as if it never existed. Nothing was validly created, so nobody can ratify it or enforce it, and nobody needs a court to set it aside first, though a declaration is often sought for clarity.
Contrast voidable: a voidable contract or marriage is valid until the party with the option avoids it. A minor's agreement is void ab initio; a contract induced by coercion is only voidable. The phrase also appears in “trespass ab initio”, where a lawful entry becomes wrongful from the start because of later abuse.
Example
Since a minor cannot contract, the mortgage he executed was void ab initio and the lender could not recover the advance under it.
In Indian law
- Section 2(g), Indian Contract Act, 1872 (an agreement not enforceable by law is void)
- Section 11, Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (void marriages)
- Mohori Bibee v. Dharmodas Ghose (Privy Council, 1903): a minor's agreement is void ab initio
See also
void ab initio · void agreement · voidable contract · trespass ab initio
Read more in the study notes
- Memorandum of association and the doctrine of ultra vires (Company Law)
- Article 19(1)(a): freedom of speech and expression (Constitutional Law I)
- Agreement and contract: meaning, essentials and kinds (Contract I)
- Minor's agreements (Contract I)
- Frustration and impossibility of performance (Contract I)
- Contract of guarantee and rights of the surety (Contract II)