Annullamento

Annullamento is a legal term used in Italian to denote the act of cancelling, voiding, or rescinding an act, decision, contract, or status by a competent authority or through agreement. The word comes from the Latin annullare, meaning to reduce to nothing. In practice, annullamento implies that the legal effect of the relevant act is extinguished as if it never occurred, or is restored to the situation that existed before its creation, depending on the context and the applicable law.

In administrative law, annullamento refers to the cancellation or revocation of an administrative act by a higher authority or by a court when the act is found illegal, procedurally defective, or otherwise unlawful. The procedure typically involves a review or appeal, and the act is usually treated as having ex tunc effect, removing its legal consequences from the date of adoption.

In civil law, annullamento can concern the cancellation of instruments such as contracts or other juridical acts. It is related to, but distinct from, nullità (nullity) and annullabilità (voidability): nullità generally denotes invalidity from the outset, while annullabilità concerns acts that can be invalidated under certain conditions; annullamento is the formal declaration of cancellation within a prescribed process.

In family law, annullamento del matrimonio denotes a judicial declaration that a marriage was invalid or voidable under specific grounds, with legal consequences similar to those of the other annullamenti.

See also: nullità, annullabilità, risoluzione.