there may be a middle ground between A and not-A

Agreed, wofa, there are degrees of hunger, but are there degrees of applicability in the same way? My initial reaction was the same as CapK's, that not inapplicable is the same as applicable in reasonable discussion, but I questioned it precisely because it was in the legal arena. I know how fond lawyers are of splitting semantic hairs. We may be making a distinction without a difference, but.