In the absence of fraud, negligence or wilful default

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A study triplicate that no young thruster or commercial eagle cadet can can venture into the thickets of finance contract verbiage before encountering.

Usually — properly — used to hem in the potentially outrageous scope of a well-crafted indemnity, but also often seen purporting to delimit illogically a bank’s liability for failing to keep its own promises.

“In the absence of” is such a beautiful, topsy-turvy view of the world. In that way that lawyers do, it describes a negative space rather than a positive one, painting light onto a uniform void of darkness, in this way — but only this way — evoking the spirit of Leonardo.

See also

• Fraud
• Negligence or, for our American cousins, gross negligence
• Wilful default or, for our American cousins, wilful misconduct