necessity
American Heritage Dictionary:
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ne·ces·si·ty
(nə-sĕs'ĭ-tē) 
n., pl., -ties.
n., pl., -ties.
- The condition or quality of being necessary.
- Something necessary: The necessities of life include food, clothing, and shelter.
- Something dictated by invariable physical laws.
- The force exerted by circumstance.
- The state or fact of being in need.
- Pressing or urgent need, especially that arising from poverty.
of necessity
- As an inevitable consequence; necessarily.
[Middle English necessite, from Old French, from Latin necessitās, from necesse, necessary. See necessary.]
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necessity
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:
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necessity
In logic and metaphysics, a modal property of a true proposition whereby it is not possible for the proposition to be false and of a false proposition whereby it is not possible for the proposition to be true. A proposition is logically necessary if it instantiates a law of logic or can be made to instantiate a law of logic through substitution of definitionally equivalent terms. Examples are It is raining now or it is not raining now and All men are human beings (assuming men can be replaced with male human beings). Necessary propositions are sometimes said to be true or false (as the case may be) in all possible worlds. A contingently true or false proposition is thus one that is true in some possible worlds and false in others (e.g., France is a democracy). All true logically necessary propositions are analytic ( analytic-synthetic distinction) and knowable a priori. Some philosophers recognize a second category of metaphysically necessary propositions that are not analytic and generally not a priori; examples include identity statements such as Water is H2O.
For more information on necessity, visit Britannica.com.
Roget's Thesaurus:
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necessity
noun
- That which provides a reason or justification: call, cause, ground (often used in plural), justification, occasion, reason, wherefore, why. Idioms: why and wherefore. See start/end.
- Something indispensable: condition, essential, must, need, precondition, prerequisite, requirement, requisite, sine qua non. See necessary/unnecessary.
- A condition in which something necessary or desirable is required or wanted: exigence, exigency, need. See necessary/unnecessary.
American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms:
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necessity
Idioms beginning with necessity:
necessity is the mother of invention
In addition to the idiom beginning with necessity, also see make a virtue of necessity; of necessity.
Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy:
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necessity
A proposition is necessary if it could not have been false. We can contemplate various possibilities describing how things might have been but are not; if in all these possibilities a proposition is true, then it is true in all possible worlds or true of necessity. See also necessary/contingent truths, modality, modal logic.
The fundamental explanation of the necessity of a proposition is controversial, and some have doubted whether the category is a useful aid to thought (see Quine). A relatively clear class of necessary propositions would be those that are analytic (see analytic/synthetic) since they seem ‘trivially’ true. More substantive problems arise with apparently synthetic necessary truths: classical examples include the proposition that every number has a successor, or nothing can appear red and green all over at the same time. The possibility of synthetic a priori truth is the basic problem faced by Kant in the Critique of Pure Reason. conventionalist theories suggest that we deem certain propositions to be necessary by linguistic convention (‘invention is the mother of necessity’). Other theories stress the imaginative block we encounter when we try to imagine the possibility of such propositions being true, although if this block is a contingent aspect of our psychologies, the explanation seems to undermine the idea of necessity rather than to explain it. A category of particular interest recently has been that of propositions which are ‘metaphysically necessary’, yet not in any sense a priori: the proposition that heat in a gas is motion of molecules, or that water is H2O, for example.
A rather different set of philosophical problems also arises with the idea of the necessary unfolding of events in time; in many philosophies the march of events has been seen as inexorable, or pre-ordained, and this is held to have consequences for how we react to problems of choice, or how we think of what has already happened. See also free will, laws of nature. The cluster of considerations focusing on the cosmological argument seek to show that if anything exists contingently, then something must exist of necessity.
West's Encyclopedia of American Law:
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Necessity
This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.
A defense asserted by a criminal or civil defendant that he or she had no choice but to break the law.
The necessity defense has long been recognized at common law and has also been made part of most states' statutory law. Although no federal statute acknowledges the defense, the Supreme Court has recognized it as part of the common law. The rationale behind the necessity defense is that sometimes, in a particular situation, a technical breach of the law is more advantageous to society than the consequence of strict adherence to the law. The defense is often used successfully in cases that involve a trespass on property to save a person's life or property. It also has been used, with varying degrees of success, in cases involving more complex questions.
Almost all common-law and statutory definitions of the necessity defense include the following elements: (1) the defendant acted to avoid a significant risk of harm; (2) no adequate lawful means could have been used to escape the harm; and (3) the harm avoided was greater than that caused by breaking the law. Some jurisdictions require in addition that the harm must have been imminent and that the action taken must have been reasonably expected to avoid the imminent danger. All these elements mirror the principles on which the defense of necessity was founded: first, that the highest social value is not always achieved by blind adherence to the law; second, that it is unjust to punish those who technically violate the letter of the law when they are acting to promote or achieve a higher social value than would be served by strict adherence to the law; and third, that it is in society's best interest to promote the greatest good and to encourage people to seek to achieve the greatest good, even if doing so necessitates a technical breach of the law.
The defense of necessity is considered a justification defense, as compared with an excuse defense such as duress. An action that is harmful but praiseworthy is justified, whereas an action that is harmful but ought to be forgiven may be excused. Rather than focusing on the actor's state of mind, as would be done with an excuse defense, the court with a necessity defense focuses on the value of the act. No court has ever accepted a defense of necessity to justify killing a person to protect property.
Most states that have codified the necessity defense make it available only if the defendant's value choice has not been specifically contradicted by the state legislature. For example, in 1993 the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rejected the necessity defense of two people who were prosecuted for operating a needle-exchange program that was intended to reduce the transmission of AIDS through the sharing of contaminated hypodermic needles (Massachusetts v. Leno, 415 Mass. 835, 616 N.E.2d 453). Their actions violated a state law prohibiting the distribution of hypodermic needles without a physician's prescription. In rejecting the defense, the court held that the situation posed no clear and imminent danger. The court reasoned that citizens who disagree with the legislature's policy are not without remedy, as they can seek to have the law changed through popular initiative.
The necessity defense has been used with sporadic and very limited success in the area of civil disobedience since the 1970s. The most common circumstances involve public protests against abortion, nuclear power, and nuclear weapons. Virtually all abortion protesters who have tried to avail themselves of the defense have lost. The courts have reasoned that because the right to an abortion is constitutionally protected, it cannot simultaneously be a legally recognized harm justifying illegal action. In these cases the courts have also denied the defense on the basis that the criminal act of protest would not stop abortions from occurring; that the harm caused by the act was greater than the harm of abortion; and that legal means of protest, such as demonstrating outside of the clinic rather than entering the clinic or trespassing on its property, were available. Consequently, according to the courts, there was no necessity for the protesters to break the law. In the vast majority of cases in which protesters, trespassing on property, blocked the entrance to nuclear plants, the courts have denied the necessity defense on the grounds that there was no imminent danger and that the trespassing protesters could not reasonably have believed that their actions would halt the manufacture of nuclear materials (see, e.g., State v. Marley, 54 Haw. 450, 509 P.2d 1095 [Haw. 1973]). The defense has also been denied in civil disobedience cases involving protests against U.S. policy abroad, the homeless problem, lack of funding for AIDS research, harmful logging practices, prison conditions, and human and animal rights violations.
Necessity has been used successfully by inmates who escape from prison under certain circumstances. In Spakes v. State, 913 S.W.2d 597 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996), the highest criminal court in Texas allowed the jury to be instructed on the necessity defense before deliberating the verdict for an inmate whose three cellmates had planned an escape and threatened to slit his throat if he did not accompany them. The defendant inmate argued that because of the terribly violent crimes of which his cellmates had been convicted (one had bragged about chopping his girlfriend up with an ax), he accompanied them and escaped. Even though he made no attempt to return himself to custody when he was separated from his cellmates, the court still allowed the defense. In contrast, most jurisdictions have held that an escapee must make an attempt to surrender or report to authorities as a condition for asserting the necessity defense. These courts have reasoned that once the immediate threat is no longer present, the action of escape is no longer necessary, and consequently it should end.
Word Tutor:
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necessity
IN BRIEF: Something badly needed.
After getting sick from drinking the water, they understood the necessity of boiling it first.
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Quotes About:
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Necessity
Quotes:
"Man cannot be free if he does not know that he is subject to necessity, because his freedom is always won in his never wholly successful attempts to liberate himself from necessity."
- Hannah Arendt
"We come into the world laden with the weight of an infinite necessity."
- Albert Camus
"Arguably the only goods people need these days are food and happiness."
- Sir Terence Conran
"Necessity has no law."
- Oliver Cromwell
"Must! Is must a word to be addressed to princes? Little man, little man! thy father, if he had been alive, durst not have used that word."
- Elizabeth I
"Make yourself necessary to somebody."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
See more famous quotes about Necessity
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Necessity
This article is about the definition of necessity according to domestic law. For the concept of necessity in international law, see Military necessity. For logical meanings, see Necessary (disambiguation) and Modal logic.
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In U.S. criminal law, necessity may be either a possible justification or an exculpation for breaking the law. Defendants seeking to rely on this defense argue that they should not be held liable for their actions as a crime because their conduct was necessary to prevent some greater harm and when that conduct is not excused under some other more specific provision of law such as self defense. Except for a few statutory exemptions and in some medical cases [1] there is no corresponding defense in English law.[2][contradictory]
For example, a drunk driver might contend that he drove his car to get away from a kidnap (cf. North by Northwest). Most common law and civil law jurisdictions recognize this defense, but only under limited circumstances. Generally, the defendant must affirmatively show (i.e., introduce some evidence) that (a) the harm he sought to avoid outweighs the danger of the prohibited conduct he is charged with; (b) he had no reasonable alternative; (c) he ceased to engage in the prohibited conduct as soon as the danger passed; and (d) he did not himself create the danger he sought to avoid. Thus, with the "drunk driver" example cited above, the necessity defense will not be recognized if the defendant drove further than was reasonably necessary to get away from the kidnapper, or if some other reasonable alternative was available to him. However case law suggests necessity is narrowed to medical cases.
The political necessity defense saw its demise in the case of United States v. Schoon.[3] In that case, thirty people, including appellants, gained admittance to the IRS office in Tucson, where they chanted "keep America's tax dollars out of El Salvador," splashed simulated blood on the counters, walls, and carpeting, and generally obstructed the office's operation. The court ruled that the elements of necessity did not exist in this case.[4]
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General discussion
As a matter of political expediency, states usually allow some classes of person to be excused from liability when they are engaged in socially useful functions but intentionally cause injury, loss or damage. For example, the fire services and other civil defence organizations have a general duty to keep the community safe from harm. If a fire or flood is threatening to spread out of control, it may be reasonably necessary to destroy other property to form a fire break, or to trespass on land to throw up mounds of earth to prevent the water from spreading. These examples have the common feature of individuals intentionally breaking the law because they believe it to be urgently necessary to protect others from harm, but some states distinguish between a response to a crisis arising from an entirely natural cause (an inanimate force of nature), e.g. a fire from a lightning strike or rain from a storm, and a response to an entirely human crisis. Thus, parents who lack the financial means to feed their children cannot use necessity as a defense if they steal food. The existence of welfare benefits and strategies other than self-help defeat the claim of an urgent necessity that cannot be avoided in any way other than by breaking the law. Further, some states apply a test of proportionality. So the defense would only be allowed where the degree of harm actually caused was a reasonably proportionate response to the degree of harm threatened. This is a legal form of cost–benefit analysis.
Specific jurisdictions
International Law
Customary International Law
Under International law, a customary international obligation or an obligation granted under a Bilateral Investment Treaty may be suspended under the Doctrine of Necessity. It is "an exception from illegality and in certain cases even as an exception from responsibility." See Continental Casualty Company v Argentine Republic, ICSID Case No ARB/03/09. In order to invoke the Doctrine of Necessity: (1) Invoking State must not have contributed to the state of necessity, (2) Actions taken were only way to safeguard an essential interest from grave and impending danger. Id. at page 72, paragraph 165.
United States
In specific states
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See also
References
- Christie, The Defense of Necessity Considered from the Legal and Moral Points of View, (1999) Vol. 48 Duke Law Journal, 975.
- Fuller, Lon L. The Case of the Speluncean Explorers, (1949) Vol. 62, No. 4 Harvard Law Review [1] and The Case of the Speluncean Explorers: A Fiftieth Anniversary Symposium, (1999) 12 Harvard Law Review 1834.
- Herman, United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Cooperative. Whatever Happened to Federalism? (2002) Vol. 95, No. 1 The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 121.
- Travis, M. The Compulsion Element in a Defence of Necessity (2000) [2]
- ^ See Re A (Conjoined Twins: Surgical Separation) [2001] Fam 147
- ^ See R v Dudley and Stephens [1884] 14 QBD 273 and R v Howe [1987] 1 AC 417
- ^ Cavallaro, James L., Jr. (1993), The demise of the political necessity defense: indirect civil disobedience and United States v. Schoon, University of California Press, ISSN 0008-1221
- ^ U.S. v. Schoon, 939 F2d 826 (July 29, 1991).
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Translations:
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Necessity
Dansk (Danish)
n. - nødvendighed, fornødenhed, trang
idioms:
- by necessity af nødvendighed
- of necessity af nødvendighed
Nederlands (Dutch)
noodzakelijkheid, noodzaak, armoede
Français (French)
n. - nécessité, besoin, impératif, choses essentielles, (Philos) nécessité
idioms:
- by necessity par nécessité
- of necessity nécessairement
Deutsch (German)
n. - Notwendigkeit, Bedürfnis, Unvermeidlichkeit, Not
idioms:
- by necessity notwendigerweise
- of necessity notgedrungen
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ανάγκη, αναγκαίο
idioms:
- by necessity κατ' ανάγκην
- of necessity κατ' ανάγκην, αναγκαστικά
idioms:
- by necessity necessariamente
- of necessity necessariamente
Português (Portuguese)
n. - necessidade (f), pobreza (f), exigência (f)
idioms:
- by necessity por necessidade
- of necessity necessariamente
Русский (Russian)
необходимость
idioms:
- by necessity по необходимости
- of necessity по необходимости
Español (Spanish)
n. - necesidad, indigencia
idioms:
- by necessity por necesidad, forzosamente
- of necessity por fuerza, forzosamente
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - nödvändighet, behov, nödvändigt ting, (livs)villkor
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
需要, 必然, 必需品
idioms:
- by necessity 必须, 必要
- of necessity 必然地, 不可避免地
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 需要, 必然, 必需品
idioms:
- by necessity 必須, 必要
- of necessity 必然地, 不可避免地
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 불가피성, 필수품, 궁핍
idioms:
- by necessity 필요성이 있어서
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 必然, 必要, 緊急の要, 欠乏, 貧困, 必要不可欠なもの, 必要性, 必然性
idioms:
- by necessity やむをえず
- of necessity 必然的に
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) ضرورة, عوز
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - מצרך חיוני, הכרח, צורך, נחיצות, עוני, נצרכות, כפייה או הגבלה הנחשבים לחוק הטבע השולט בכל פעולות אנוש
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American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 byHoughton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy
The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Copyright © 1994, 1996, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
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West's Encyclopedia of American Law
West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Copyright © 1998 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Wikipedia on Answers.com
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Necessity.
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