CEVAP:

By declaring a legal action null and void an act performed in violation of law is rendered ineffective, or devoid of legal effect. If a legal act is void, this means that it was never in the eyes of the law a valid act. Indeed, such a legal act is regarded as “dead” from the beginning, and it is regarded as nullity. If a marriage is due to some defect (marriage before an unauthorized person, for example) existing at the time the marriage was celebrated is null and void, it will be non-existent meaning that it will produce no legal effect whatsoever. Unlike the cases of being void ab initio, in the instances of voidability, it is up to the parties to decide whether or not they wish to nullify the effect of a legal act.