English

Noun

unforeseeability ‎(uncountable)

1. Inability to be predicted or anticipated.
   • 2003 May 28, Jim Porter, "Making sense of the rules of law," www.sierrasun.com (retrieved 20 Sep. 2011):

     An Indiana appellate court, affirming a lower court’s decision, dismissed the suit, for reasons that include the unforeseeability of the accident.

   • 2009 Dec. 6, Matt Richtel, "A Victim’s Daughter Takes the Cellphone Industry to Court," New York Times (retrieved 20 Sep. 2011):

     No man is responsible for that which no man can control. (The unforeseeability defense).

   • 2009, Bert Olivier, Philosophy and Psychoanalytic Theory: Collected Essays, ISBN 9783039119011, pp. 139-140:

     This is what Derrida calls the ‘messianic’ structure of experience. . . the tacit possibility that the ‘other’ (or otherness) may surprise one. . . . [T]he very structure of experience exhibits this unforeseeability.

Usage notes

• Often used in contexts involving matters of law.