VOID; VOID JUDGMENT

VOID JUDGMENT defined: One which has no legal force or effect,

invalidity of which may be asserted by any person whose rights are
affected at any time and at any place directly or collaterally.
Reynolds v. Volunteer State Life Ins. Co., Tex.Civ.App., 80 S.W.2d
1087, 1092. One which, from its inception is and forever continues to
be absolutely null, without legal efficacy, ineffectual to bind parties
or support a right, of no legal force and effect whatever, and
incapable of confirmation, ratification, or enforcement in any manner
or to any degree. Judgment is a "void judgment" if court that rendered
judgment lacked jurisdiction of the subject matter, or of the parties,
or acted in a manner inconsistent with due process. Klugh v. U.S.,
D.C.S.C., 620 F.Supp. 892, 901. See also Voidable judgment. Blacks Law
Dictionary Sixth Edition (page 1574)
VOID defined: contracts, practice. That which has no force or effect.
2. Contracts, bequests or legal proceedings may be void; these will be
severally considered. 3.-1. The invalidity of a contract may arise from
many causes. 1. When the parties have no capacity to contract; as in
the case of idiots, lunatics, and in some states, under their local
regulations, habitual drunkards. Vide Parties to contracts, Sec. 1; 1
Hen. & Munf 69; 1 South. R. 361; 2 Hayw. R. 394; Newl. on Contr. 19; 1
Fonb. Eq. 46; 3 Camp. 128; Long on Sales, 14; Highm. on Lunacy, 111,
112 Chit. on Contr. 29, 257. 4.-2. When the contract has for its object
the performance of an act malum in se; as a covenant to rob or kill a
man, or to commit a breach of the peace. Shep. To. 163; Co. Lit. 206, b
10 East, R. 534. 5.-3. When the thing to be performed is impossible;
as, if a man were to covenant to go from the United States to Europe in
one day. Co. Lit. 206, b. But in these cases, the impossibility must
exist at the time of making the contract; for although subsequent
events may excuse the performance, the contract is not absolutely void;
as, if John contract to marry Maria, and, before the time appointed,
the covenantee marry her himself, the contract will not be enforced,
but it was not void in its creation. It differs from a contract made by
John, who, being a married man, and known to the covenantee, enters
into a contract to marry Maria during the continuance of his existing
marriage, for in that case the contract is void. 6.-4. Contracts
against public policy; as, an agreement not to marry any one, or not to
follow any business; the one being considered in restraint of marriage,
and the other in restraint of trade. 4 Burr. 2225; S. C. Wilm. 364; 2
Vern. 215; Al. 67: 8 Mass. R. 223; 9 Mass. R. 522; 1 Pick. R. 443; 3
Pick. R. 188. 7.-5. When the contract is fraudulent, it is void, for
fraud vitiates everything. 1 Fonb. Equity, 66, note Newl. on Contr.
352; and article Fraud. As to cases when a condition consists of
several parts, and some are lawful and others are not, see article
Condition. 8.-2. A devise or bequest is void:. 1. When made by a person
not lawfully authorized to make a will; as, a lunatic or idiot, a
married woman, and an infant before arriving at the age of fourteen, if
a male, and twelve if a female. Harg. Co. Lit. 896, If; Rob. on Wills,
28; Godolph. Orph. Leg. 21. 2. When there is a defect in the form of
the will, or when the devise is forbidden by law; as, when a perpetuity
is given, or when the devise in unintelligible. 3. When it has been
obtained by fraud. 4. When, the devisee is dead. 5. And when there has
been an express or implied revocation of the will. Vide Legacy; Will.
9.-3. A writ or process is void when there was not any authority for
issuing it, as where the court had no jurisdiction, In such case, the
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officers acting under it become trespassers, for they are required,
notwithstanding it may sometimes be a difficult question of law, to
decide whether the court has or has not jurisdiction. 2 Brownl. 124; 10
Co. 69; March's R. 118; 8 T. R. 424; 3 Cranch, R. 330; 4 Mass. R. 234.
Vide articles Irregularity; Regular and Irregular Process. Vide,
generally, 8 Com. Dig. 644; Bac. Ab. Conditions, K; Bac. Ab. Infancy,
&c. I; Bac. Ab. h.t.; Dane's Ab. Index, h.t.; 3 Chit. Pr. 75; Yelv. 42,
a, note 1; 1 Rawle, R. 163; Bouv. Inst Index, h.t. A Law Dictionary Adapted
To The Constitution and Laws of the United States of America and of the Several States of
the American Union by John Bouvier Revised Sixth Edition, 1856

VOID defined: Null; ineffectual; nugatory; having no legal force or
binding effect; unable, in law, to support the purpose for which it was
intended. Hardison v. Gledhill, 72 Ga.App. 432, 33 S.E.2d 921, 924. An
instrument or transaction which is wholly ineffective, inoperative, and
incapable of ratification and which thus has no force or effect so that
nothing can cure it. In re Oliver, Bkrtcy. Minn., 38 B.R. 245, 248.
There is this difference between the two words void" and "voidable":
void in the strict sense means that an instrument or transaction is
nugatory and ineffectual so that nothing can cure it; voidable exists
when an imperfection or defect can be cured by the act or confirmation
of him who could take advantage of it. The term "void," however, as
applicable to conveyances or other agreements, has not at all times
been used with technical precision, nor restricted to its peculiar and
limited sense, as contradisthiguished from "voidable"; it being
frequently introduced, even by legal writers and jurists, when the
purpose is nothing further than to indicate that a contract was
invalid, and not binding in law. But the distinction between the terms
"void" and "voidable," in their application to contracts, is often one
of great practical importance; and, whenever entire technical accuracy
is required, the term "void" can only be properly applied to those
contracts that are of no effect whatsoever, such as are a mere nullity,
and incapable of confirmation or ratification. The word "void," in its
strictest sense, means that which has no force and effect, is without
legal efficacy, is incapable of being enforced by law, or has no legal
or binding force, but frequently the word is used and construed as
having the more liberal meaning of "voidable." The word "void" is used
in statutes in the sense of utterly void so as to be incapable of
ratification, and also in the sense of voidable and resort must be had
to the rules of construction in many cases to determine in which sense
the Legislature intended to use it. An act or contract neither wrong in
itself nor against public policy, which has been declared void by
statute for the protection or benefit of a certain party, or class of
parties, is voidable only. Compare Voidable. Black's Law Dictionary,
Sixth Edition, (page 1753, 1574)
VOID AB INITIO defined: A contract is null from the beginning if it
seriously offends law or public policy in contrast to a contract which
is merely voidable at the election of one of the parties to the
contract. See also Void contract; Void marriage. Black's Law
Dictionary, Sixth Edition, (page 1574)
VOID ON ITS FACE defined: An instrument is void on its face when
an inspection will reveal its defects and invalidity. Black's Law
Dictionary, Sixth Edition, (page 1574)
VOID PROCESS DEFINED: One, which fails in some material respect to
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comply with the requisite form of legal process. United States v. Van
Dusen, C.C.A.Minn., 78 F.2d 121, 124. Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth
Edition, (page 1574)
VOID TRANSACTION defined: One that has no force and effect and is
incapable of legal enforcement. See Void; Void contract. Black's Law
Dictionary, Sixth Edition, (page 1574)
VOID CONTRACT defined: A contract that does not exist at law; a
contract having no legal force or binding effect. Expression denotes
that the parties to the transaction have gone through the form of
making a contract, but that none has been made in law because of lack
of some essential element of a contract, and such contract creates no
legal rights and either party thereto may ignore it at his pleasure, in
so far as it is executory. Griffin v. Smith, C.C.A.lnd., 101 F.2d 348,
350. See also Voidable contract. Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition,
(page 1574)
DUE PROCESS OF LAW defined: Law in its regular course of administration
through courts of justice. Due process of law in each particular case
means such an exercise of the powers of the government as the settled
maxims of law permit and sanction, and under such safeguards for the
protection of individual rights as those maxims prescribe for the class
of cases to which the one in question belongs. A course of legal
proceedings according to those rules and principles which have been
established in our systems of jurisprudence for the enforcement and
protection of private rights. To give such proceedings any validity,
there must be a tribunal competent by its constitution-that is, by the
law of its creation-to pass upon the subject-matter of the suit; and,
if that involves merely a determination of the personal liability of
the defendant, he must be brought within its jurisdiction by service of
process within the state, or his voluntary appearance. Pennoyer v.
Neff, 95 U.S. 733, 24 L.Ed. 565. Due process of law implies the right
of the person affected thereby to be present before the tribunal which
pronounces judgment upon the question of life, liberty, or property, in
its most comprehensive sense; to be heard, by testimony or otherwise,
and to have the right of controverting, by proof, every material fact
which bears on the question of right in the matter involved. If any
question of fact or liability be conclusively presumed against him,
this is not due process of law. An orderly proceeding wherein a person
is served with notice, actual or constructive, and has an opportunity
to be heard and to enforce and protect his rights before a court having
power to hear and determine the case. Kazubowski v. Kazubowski, 45
IlL2d 405, 259 N.E.2d 282, 290. Phrase means that no person shall be
deprived of life, liberty, property or of any right granted him by
statute, unless matter involved first shall have been adjudicated
against him upon trial conducted according to established rules
regulating judicial proceedings, and it forbids condemnation without a
hearing. Pettit v. Penn, La.App., 180 So.2d 66, 69. The concept of "due
process of law" as it is embodied in Fifth Amendment demands that a law
shall not be unreasonable, arbitrary, or capricious and that the means
selected shall have a reasonable and substantial relation to the object
being sought. U. S. v. Smith, D.C.lowa, 249 F.Supp. 515, 516.
Fundamental requisite of "due process" is the opportunity to be heard,
to be aware that a matter is pending, to make an informed choice
whether to acquiesce or contest, and to assert before the appropriate
decision-making body the reasons for such choice. Trinity Episcopal
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Corp. v. Romney, D.C.N.Y., 387 F.Supp. 1044, 1084. Aside from all else,
"due process" means fundamental fairness and substantial justice.
Vaughn v. State, 3 Tenn.Crim.App. 54, 456 S.W.2d 879, 883. Embodied in
the due process concept are the basic rights of a defendant in criminal
proceedings and the requisites for a fair trial. These rights and
requirements have been expanded by Supreme Court decisions and include,
timely notice of a hearing or trial which informs the accused of the
charges against him or her; the opportunity to confront accusers and to
present evidence on one's own behalf before an impartial jury or judge;
the presumption of innocence under which guilt must be proven by
legally obtained evidence and the verdict must be supported by the
evidence presented; the right of an accused to be warned of
constitutional rights at the earliest stage of the criminal process;
protection against self-incrimination; assistance of counsel at every
critical stage of the criminal process; and the guarantee that an
individual will not be tried more than once for the same offense
(double jeopardy). See also Procedural due process; Substantive due
process. Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition, (page 500, 501)
DUE PREOCESS RIGHTS defined: All rights, which are of such fundamental
importance as to require compliance with due process standards of
fairness and justice. Procedural and substantive rights of citizens
against government actions that threaten the denial of life, liberty,
or property. See Due process of law. Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth
Edition, (page 501)
DUE PROCESS CLAUSE defined: Two such clauses are found in the U.S.
Constitution, one in the 5th Amendment pertaining to the federal
government, the other in the 14th Amendment which protects persons from
state actions. There are two aspects: procedural, in which a person is
guar anteed fair procedures and substantive, which protects a person's
property from unfair governmental interference or taking. Similar
clauses are in most state constitutions. See Due process of law.
Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition, (page 500)
DEFECTIVE TITLE defined: With respect to negotiable paper within U.C.C.
Article 3 ( 3-201) the title of a person who obtains instrument or any
signature thereto by fraud, duress, or force and fear, or other
unlawful means, or for an illegal consideration, or when he negotiates
it in breach of faith or under such circumstances as amount to fraud.
See also Title (Defective title); Unmarketable title. Black's Law
Dictionary, Sixth Edition, (page 419)

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