Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In law, a chance, an accident, or an event: used frequently with other words to express some technical meaning.
- noun In commercial law, that which is contemplaced by the parties to a contract, or that which is stipulated for or brought within the terms of the contract.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An event; an occurrence; an occasion; a combination of circumstances; a case; an act of God. See the Note under
accident . - noun an event or combination of events which is a cause war, or may be alleged as a justification of war.
- noun an accident against which due prudence could not have provided. See Act of God, under
Act . - noun a case not provided for by the statute.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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At last, after no end of 'casus' and 'discrimina rerum', I shall sail on Saturday the 10th, per ship Camperdown, for East India
Letters from the Cape Lucie Duff Gordon 1845
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The worst threat at this G20 summit was a remark by French President Nicolas Sarkozy that he would walk out if there was not better regulation of banks and financial markets, not exactly the kind of casus belli that plunged Europe into war nearly 100 years ago.
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In this case, the distinction between the two is important because the Iranian program has emerged as a possible casus belli.
Robert Naiman: On Iran IAEA Reporting Complaints, NYT Public Editor Rules for the Plaintiffs Robert Naiman 2012
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Ms. Foreman recounts numerous incidents that, during the course of the Civil War, stoked sentiments on both sides of the Atlantic without ever rising to a casus belli .
When Cotton Wasn't King Michael Burlingame 2011
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We didn't make terrorism a casus belli, instead treating it as a crime, only lobbing a few missiles at Afghan rock huts and a Sudanese pharmaceutical plant.
Iran's Act of War Reuel Marc Gerecht 2011
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In this case, the distinction between the two is important because the Iranian program has emerged as a possible casus belli.
Robert Naiman: On Iran IAEA Reporting Complaints, NYT Public Editor Rules for the Plaintiffs Robert Naiman 2012
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Iran's ongoing support for Hezbollah and Hamas, coupled with its direct participation in the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, constitute sufficient casus belli to justify a reactive Israeli military strike against the Iranian nuclear program.
Warning Iran Against Hitting 'Soft' American Targets Alan M. Dershowitz 2012
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* Joe Klein puts his finger on one the now-defunc Democratic Leadership Council's most catastrophic failings: "The war in Iraq, which the DLC supported reflexively, as a way of seeming `strong,' without ever really analyzing the intellectual weaknesses of the casus belli."
Happy Hour Roundup Greg Sargent 2011
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Then they sat down to a three-cornered game of 'cut-throat,' -- a proceeding which did away with all casus belli for future hostilities, and permitted the victor to depart on a most important mission.
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If the Bush administration needed a casus belli, here it was broadcast around the world.
The Longest War Peter L. Bergen 2011
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