QUASI

quasi (kway-sIorkway-zIalsokwah-zee). [Latin “as if”] Seemingly but not actually; in some

sense; resembling; nearly.

“QUASI. A Latin word frequently used in the civil law, and often prefixed to English words.

It is not a very definite word. It marks the resemblance, and supposes a little difference, between

two objects, and in legal phraseology the term is used to indicate that one subject resembles

another, with which it is compared, in certain characteristics, but that there are also intrinsic and

material differences between them. It negatives the idea of identity, but implies a strong superficial

analogy, and points out that the conceptions are sufficiently similar for one to be classed as the

equal of the other.” 74 C.J.S. Quasi, at 2 (1951). [Blacks Law 8th]