Legal nullity refers to any entity which theoretically is, or might be, of some legal significance, but in fact lacks any identity or distinct structure of its own.

Institutional bodies

The usual examples are counties (or equivalent sub-regional groupings) which are wholly subsumed by the municipal government within their boundaries.Textbook on Legal Language and Legal Writing
Bhatia, K, L. 2010. Universal Law Publishing. p269. Retrieved: 27/05/18 Some entities which fit this description are Philadelphia County, a legal nullity because it is entirely coterminous with the city of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, and

New York County Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, which is similarly coterminous with the Borough of Manhattan, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

(as are each of the Five

Boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

of New York City). A similar example exists for the entire state of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

, where the eight counties have only a shadow existence. Virtually all of their governmental functions were abolished in 1960, the rest in 2000. Their historic boundaries are used only to organize certain state level police and judicial districts. These areas are of relatively little legal import, since there is a generally agreed overarching legal coverage. The issue is of greater significance when a significant power is technically under the overarching body's power but has been external from that control for so long that it is generally accepted as to have little consequence.

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a international recognition of Kosovo, partiall ...

is one particular case, as from many countries' viewpoints, it doesn't exist as a country. However it has a well-established legal system without any other party effectively stating control over the region (and no likelihood of that changing in the anticipated future). For the 80 countries that don't recognise its independence, but wish to participate with the country (trade, security etc.), then functioning with Kosovo's legal system is necessary. This means functionally ignoring a legal system of significance, from their point of view. The same can be said of several other long-disputed "de facto" States, where necessity drives rejecting the participation of a legally significant legal system.

Jurisdiction

Legal nullity is also a court decision made without jurisdiction or authority. Such a decision does not have to be vacated or appealed, it is void from inception.

References

Legal terminology {{Geo-term-stub

Institutional bodies

Jurisdiction

See also

References