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Legal Fiction

   Also found in: Wikipedia 0.01 sec.

An assumption that something occurred or someone or something exists which, in fact, is not the case, but that is made in the law to enable a court to equitably resolve a matter before it.

In order to do justice, the law will permit or create a legal fiction. For example, if a person undertakes a renunciation of a legacy which is a gift by will the person will be deemed to have predeceased the testator—one who makes a will—for the purpose of distributing the estate.


legal fiction n. a presumption of fact assumed by a court for convenience, consistency, or to achieve justice. There is an old adage: "Fictions arise from the law, and not law from fictions."


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? References in periodicals archive
The incorporation doctrine is a legal fiction introduced in the 1920s, five decades after the 14th Amendment was ratified.
The nominee theory attempts to discern whether a taxpayer has engaged in a legal fiction, for federal tax purposes, by placing title to property in the hands of another while actually retaining all or some of the benefits of being the true owner.
Behind that legal fiction lies a moral fiction, and one which is vital to the self-image of society.
 
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