Law disfavors improbabilities or impossibilities.

Explanation

(English-origin maxim — no Latin equivalent; the English title is the original form.) Courts will not construe a statute or contract to require something impossible or wildly improbable — an interpretation that leads to absurdity is presumed not to have been intended.

Where this applies

• A contract clause requires a party to deliver goods to a location that no longer exists because it was destroyed in a flood, and the court holds the clause unenforceable because the law will not require the impossible.
• A statute mandates that all vehicles pass an emissions test using a specific technology that has been banned by federal regulation, and the court strikes the requirement as impossible to comply with.
• A deed restriction requires a homeowner to maintain a structure that has been condemned and ordered demolished by the county, and the court voids the restriction because the law does not enforce impossible obligations.