AVOISION

avoision  (<<schwa>>-voy-zh<<schwa>>n),  n.  An  ambiguous  act  that  falls  between  legal

avoidance and illegal evasion of the law. • The term, coined by Arthur Seldon, an economist, is a

blend of evasion and avoidance. Avoision usu. refers to financial acts that are not clearly legal tax

avoidance or illegal tax evasion, but it sometimes appears in other contexts.

“The book is in three parts, divided into tiny chapterlets, forty-two in all. The first part takes

up what Katz calls ‘avoision’: a fusion of ‘avoidance’ and ‘evasion’ that denotes cases in which it

is  unclear  whether  a  person’s  conduct  should  be  considered  lawful  avoidance  of  the  law’s

prohibitions  or  illegal  evasion.  Two  actresses  are  vying  for  the  same  part.  Mildred  knows  that

Abigail  has  been  unfaithful  to  her  husband.  If  she  threatens  to  tell  the  husband  unless  Abigail

forgoes  the  audition,  that  would be  blackmail,  and  a  crime.  Instead  she  tells  Abigail  that  she  is

mailing a letter addressed to the husband that reveals Abigail’s infidelity and that has been timed

to arrive the morning of the audition. Knowing that Abigail will stay home to intercept the letter,

Mildred will have achieved the same end as she would  have done by committing blackmail,  yet

her conduct is not criminal.” Richard A. Posner, “The Immoralist,” New Republic, July 15, 1996,

at 38.[Blacks Law 8th]