DISAFFIRMANCE

disaffirmance   (dis-<<schwa>>-f<<schwa>>rm-<<schwa>>nts).1.   An   act   of   denial;   a

repudiation, as of an earlier transaction. [Cases: Contracts    272.C.J.S. Contracts §§ 471, 484.] 2.

A  declaration  that  a  voidable  contract  (such  as  one  entered  into  by  a  minor)  is  void.  —  Also

termed disaffirmation. [Cases: Infants    58(1). C.J.S. Infants §§ 166, 172–174.]

“Disaffirmance is an operative act whereby the legal relations created by an infant’s contract

are  terminated  and  discharged  and  other  legal  relations  substituted.  Inasmuch  as  the  infant’s

executory promise does not operate to create any legal duty in him (the infant being at all times at

liberty or privileged not to perform), his disaffirmance is not the discharge of such a duty. A return

promise  by  an  adult,  however,  creates  a  legal  duty  and  the  infant  has  a  correlative  right  in

personam. A disaffirmance terminates these.” William R. Anson, Principles of the Law of Contract

181 (Arthur L. Corbin ed., 3d Am. ed. 1919). [Blacks Law 8th]