Time cannot render valid an act void in its origin.

Explanation

No amount of passage of time, acquiescence, or subsequent ratification can cure a jurisdictional defect or an act that was void from inception — an unconstitutional statute does not become constitutional through long enforcement.

Where this applies

• A city enforced an unconstitutional zoning ordinance for thirty years, but when finally challenged, the court strikes it down because the passage of time cannot cure a law that was void from the start.
• A court issued a judgment without personal jurisdiction over the defendant, and twenty years later the defendant successfully vacates it because time cannot validate a void act.
• A tax was collected under an invalid statute for decades, and taxpayers sue for refunds because the long period of enforcement did not make the unconstitutional levy valid.