void

Which translation, when

Why

English works with void and voidable, unenforceable covering other blockages, German keeps a genuine third state, and that state is where translations lose money. Nichtig is void ab initio on enumerated grounds, form failure, § 125 BGB, violation of a statutory prohibition, § 134 BGB, Sittenwidrigkeit and usury, § 138 BGB, and the idiomatic doublet null und nichtig is correct German, not residue. Anfechtbar is voidable, the contract stands until avoided and then falls back to the beginning, § 142 Abs. 1 BGB. And schwebend unwirksam is the hanging state, the minor’s contract, § 108 BGB, the deal signed without authority, § 177 BGB, neither alive nor dead until the ratification decision, which, once given, heals back to day one, § 184 Abs. 1 BGB. English can describe that state, subject to ratification, but has no name for it as a validity category, so machine output collapses it into void or the coinage annullierbar, and with the name goes the option, because a contract declared dead cannot be ratified, while a hanging one is exactly waiting to be.

Typical mistakes

• Annullierbar is machine German, the doctrine word is anfechtbar, valid until avoided, § 142 Abs. 1 BGB, and the label imports the whole Anfechtungs-machinery with its own grounds and deadlines.
• Ungültig is the layman’s catch-all, a pleading needs the state named, nichtig, anfechtbar oder schwebend unwirksam, because remedies and time limits differ by state.
• The hanging state is easy to run past, the contract signed without authority is not void, it waits, § 177 BGB, and ratification heals it back to signing, § 184 Abs. 1 BGB, so declaring it void forecloses an option the client may want to exercise.

What matters

Signature audits after closing meet the third state: the manager who signed had no authority, and the English memo writes the contract off as void. German law says it hangs, § 177 BGB, the principal can ratify, and the ratification reaches back to signing, § 184 Abs. 1 BGB. The translated verdict nichtig would have thrown away a deal that was merely waiting.

Examples