# it is nothing to the point



## Daira Ziouva

From this sentence:
If the applicant can identify a condition capable or supporting her case, it is nothing to the point that her employer can derive from the facts a different condition.
I'm not sure what it means...


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## cougr

It appears nonsensical to me too.


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## ireney

We would need some more context (including maybe what kind of document this is from for instance)  Maybe it could help (not sure though). I can _guess _what it can possibly mean but that's not good enough and could be really misleading.


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## makot

Could it mean:
it is nothing = it makes no difference
to the point that = given that / seeing as / since
???????????????
Wild-guessing, though


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## Daira Ziouva

It is from a book on equality and discrimination issues. The phrase is from a court decision, a judge's reasoning. So I'm giving you more text:
"It is for the applicant to identify the requirement or condition which she seeks to impugn. These words are not terms of art: they are overlapping concepts and not to be narrowly construed. If the applicant can realistically identify a requirement or condition capable of supporting her case, as Mrs Allonby did to the Employment Tribunal's satisfaction, it is nothing to the point that her employer can with equal cogency derive from the facts a different and unobjectionable requirement or condition."


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## ireney

Ah! Thank you! I think I can safely say it means "it's irrelevant", "it has no bearing to X". So although her employer derived "from the facts a different and unobjectionable requirement or condition" it doesn't matter.


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## cougr

It appears that in this case there were two sets of conditions (most likely in some form of contract), one set which supported the employee's case and the other the employer's and for the purposes of this matter the judge ruled that the conditions which are to prevail are the ones supporting the employee's case. So "it is nothing to the point" in this case  basically means, that there is no significance to be attached to the conditions favouring the employer. In other words, the point that "her employer can with equal cogency derive from the facts a different and unobjectionable requirement or condition", means nothing in terms of supporting the employers case.

It's amazing how a little context helps.

Edit 1: Sorry, have cross posted with ireney, who has basically arrived at the same conclusion but much more succinctly.
Edit 2: Excellent "wild-guessing" makot.


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## Daira Ziouva

Thank you all. Why can't judges speak like the rest of us people?


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