Defeasances

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Legal clauses or instruments that cancel an earlier deed or agreement once a specified condition has been fulfilled
2. Conditions written into a contract or deed that nullify its effect when a stated event or obligation is met
3. Provisions in property or financial agreements that render a binding document void upon satisfaction of set terms

Etymology: "Defeasances" is simply the plural of "defeasance," a legal noun for the undoing of an obligation or conveyance, typically when a condition is met that cancels it. Its root is the Anglo-Norman "defeasaunce," a term from the legal French that English lawyers used in medieval courts, and the English noun keeps the same sense: a deed that can be annulled, or a clause that voids a transaction once its condition is fulfilled. The stem traces back to the Old French verb "defaire," meaning to undo, which is the same verb behind the English "defeat" in its older sense of undoing or annulling. A battle defeat and a legal defeasance thus share an ancestor meaning to take apart what has been done. The plural simply counts separate instances of such voiding clauses, which is how the word is most often used in practice.