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Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

Quick lookup for English, Urdu, and Latin legal terms used in Pakistani jurisprudence.

Illusory Appointment Act

An 1839 English statute providing that no appointment of property is to be declared invalid on grounds that it is illusory. ( This statute was repealed and reissued in 1925 as part of the Law of Property Act.

doctrine of illusory coverage

A rule requiring an insurance policy to be interpreted so that it is not merely a delusion to the insured.

illusory

adj. Deceptive; based on a false impression.

illusory appointment

a nominal, unduly restrictive, or conditional transfer of property under a power of appointment.

illusory contract

An agreement in which one party gives as consideration a promise that is so insubstantial as to impose no obligation. ( The insubstantial promise renders the contract unenforceable.

illusory promise

A promise that appears on its face to be so insubstantial as to impose no obligation on the promisor; an expression cloaked in promissory terms but actually containing no commitment by the promisor. ( For example, if a guarantor promises to make good on the principal debtor's obligation "as long as I think it's in my commercial interests," the promisor is not really bound. "An apparent promise which, according to its terms, makes performance optional with the promisor no matter what may happen, or no matter what course of conduct in other respects he may pursue, is in fact no promise. Such an expression is often called an illusory promise." Samuel Williston, A Treatise on the Law of Contracts ยง lA, at 5 (Walter H.E. Jaeger ed., 3d ed. 1957).

illusory tenant

1 A fictitious person who, as the landlord's alter ego, subleases an apartment to permit the landlord to circumvent rent-law regulations. 2. A tenant whose business is to sublease rent-controlled apartments.

illusory tenant.

See TENANT.

illusory trust

An arrangement that looks like a trust but, because of powers retained in the settlor, has no real substance and is not a completed trust.

illusory trust.

See TRUST.