Quod non
Which is not.
Quod non is a Latin expression used in legal argumentation to indicate that a stated assumption or fact is not the case.
Quod non literally means “what not” and is employed in legal practice to refute an assertion advanced by the opposing party. The term underscores that the proposition put forward is factually or legally incorrect and thereby serves as a rejection within the argument.
In Dutch legal documents and pleadings the expression is frequently used to draw the reader’s or the court’s explicit attention to the incorrectness of an assumption. In this way the party using the term prevents an erroneous premise from being accepted as true.
The term is of particular value in civil and administrative proceedings where the parties are at odds over facts or legal consequences. By employing “quod non” the argument remains clear and unambiguous.
“The counterparty submits that the agreement has been terminated, quod non, as no written notice of termination has been given.”
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