defeasibleadj.
/dᵻˈfiːzᵻbl/, U.S. /dəˈfizəbəl/, /diˈfizəbəl/ 1. Law. Chiefly of a right or interest: that can be terminated or annulled in the event of a specified occurrence or the fulfilment of a specified condition; = defeasable adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > testing > attestation, witness, evidence > qualification > [adjective] > allowing qualification
defeasible1586
qualifiable1611
1586 J. Ferne Blazon of Gentrie 301 There be two or three rules to be obserued, otherwise the adoption is defeasible.
1612 J. Davies Discouerie Causes Ireland 80 Hee [sc. King John] came to the Crowne of England, by a defeasible Title.
1652 E. Leigh Philol. Comm. 95 Feoffement..cleareth all disseisins, abatements, intrusions, and other defeasible estates.
1702 J. Brydall Ars Transferendi Dominium: 2nd Pt. v. 99 If one be seised (upon an Exchange) by a defeasible Title.
1767 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. (new ed.) II. 393 In all these creatures, reclaimed from the wildness of their nature, the property is not absolute, but defeasible.
1818 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. (ed. 2) IV. 105 A confirmation may make a voidable or defeazible estate good.
1837 G. Bancroft Hist. U.S. II. xii. 98 The unlettered savage..might deem the English tenure defeasible.
1881 Morning Post 17 May 2/5 The securities given to the tenant were..defeasible in consequence of his own breach of contract.
1957 Times 7 June 14/3 It was none the less a right because it was defeasible by the beneficiary's own act of disclaimer.
2001 Estates Gaz. 30 June 162/2 The authorities did not support the proposition that the section operated to render a rental assignment defeasible upon the subsequent assignment of the reversion.
2. Philosophy. Of reasoning, a proposition, argument, etc.: capable of being overturned or disproved by further evidence; that acknowledges the fallibility of a conclusion; open to valid objection.
ΚΠ
1949 H. L. A. Hart in Proc. Aristotelian Soc. 49 175 The words ‘conditional’ and ‘negative’ have the wrong implications, but the law has a word which with some hesitation I borrow and extend:..‘defeasible’.
1971 Ajatus 33 13 Defeasible justification was defined above simply as a justification which is insufficient for knowing.
1990 J. L. Pollock Nomic Probability & Found. Induction 78 It is now generally granted in epistemology that there are two kinds of reasons—defeasible and nondefeasible.
2003 D. N. Walton Ethical Argumentation 74 Ethical justification should not be seen as permanent and context-free. It should be seen as resulting in a tentative hypothesis that is defeasible.
Derivatives
defeasiˈbility n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > testing > attestation, witness, evidence > qualification > [noun] > reservation, proviso > that makes void > condition of
defeasibleness1674
defeasibility1788
1788 Case Royal Boroughs Scotl.: Objections to Bill altering Consitit. (new ed.) 59 The Defeasibility of such rights.
1885 Law Rep.: Chancery Div. 29 542 The defeasibility of the gift in favour of Mrs. White.
1930 Times 12 Apr. (Suppl.) 4/1 The defeasibility of the contract was not the test of all.
2013 R. M. Ellis Integration of Meaning i. 31 Any meaningful term, he argues, must have a criterion of defeasibility: we must be able..to reject an incoherent or meaningless use of the term.
deˈfeasibleness n. now rare
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > testing > attestation, witness, evidence > qualification > [noun] > reservation, proviso > that makes void > condition of
defeasibleness1674
defeasibility1788
1674 T. Staveley Romish Horseleech iv. 32 The Popes being sensible of the defeasibleness of their Title to this Rent.
1711 Law of Covenants xxvii. 259 Not the Defeasibleness or Undefeasibleness of the Titles.
1892 Amer. & Eng. Encycl. Law XX. 841 The defeasibleness of the right of possession or enjoyment does not make a remainder contingent.
2011 A. Aarnio Ess. Doctrinal Study of Law xv. 121 He does not deny the difference between rules and principles in general. There is a difference, but none as regards the defeasibleness.
deˈfeasibly adv.
ΚΠ
1818 R. Preston Ess. Abstr. of Title I. 421 The cases which prove that conveyances which are informal..pass the estate defeasibly as against the heirs in tail.
1912 Harvard Law Rev. 25 469 The better opinion seems to be that the title to the bankrupt's property..prior to the election of a trustee is not in custodia legis, but is defeasibly vested in the bankrupt.
2011 M. C. Murphy God & Moral Law i. 43 Normative theory is concerned..to give an account of what makes (even if only defeasibly) certain actions practically necessary.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.1586