Avoidance
gale
views updated May 17 2018AVOIDANCE
An escape from the consequences of a specific course of action through the use of legally acceptable means. Cancellation; the act of rendering something useless or legally ineffective.
A taxpayer may take all legally recognized deductions in order to minimize the income tax liability. This conduct is called tax avoidance and is legal. If, however, a taxpayer claims deductions to which he or she is not entitled so that the individual pays less income tax than is actually owed, then the taxpayer has committed tax evasion, a crime punishable by a fine, imprisonment, or both.
A plea in confession and avoidance is one that admits the truth of allegations made in former pleading but presents new information that neutralizes or avoids the legal ramifications of those admitted facts.
West's Encyclopedia of American Law
avoidance
oxford
views updated May 17 2018avoidance Behaviour that tends to protect an animal by reducing its exposure to hazard. Avoidance behaviour may be learned (e.g. when an animal does not enter an area in which a predator has been encountered, or when it does not eat an item that previously made it ill), or innate (e.g. when the young of some bird species utter distress calls and seek to hide when they see the shadow of a hawk-like object, although they have no experience of predatory birds).
A Dictionary of Ecology MICHAEL ALLABY
avoidance
oxford
views updated May 29 2018avoidance Behaviour that tends to protect an animal by reducing its exposure to hazard. Avoidance behaviour may be learned (e.g. when an animal does not enter an area in which a predator has been encountered, or when it does not eat an item that previously made it ill), or innate (e.g. when the young of some bird species utter distress calls and seek to hide when they see the shadow of a hawk-like object, although they have no experience of predatory birds).
A Dictionary of Zoology MICHAEL ALLABY