ex turpi causa non oritur actio
Courts refuse to enforce a claim founded on the plaintiff's own illegal or immoral conduct. In English law the rule was stated by Lord Mansfield in Holman v. Johnson (1775): the objection is allowed not for the defendant's sake but because the court will not lend its aid to a man who founds his cause of action on an immoral or illegal act.
In India, s.23 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 makes an agreement void if its consideration or object is forbidden by law, fraudulent, injurious to another, immoral or opposed to public policy, and money paid under it generally cannot be recovered where the parties are equally at fault (in pari delicto potior est conditio defendentis). It also operates as a defence in tort.
Example
The party who paid a bribe to secure a contract cannot sue to recover it; ex turpi causa non oritur actio and s.23 stand in his way.
In Indian law
- Section 23, Indian Contract Act, 1872
- Holman v. Johnson (King's Bench, England, 1775)
See also
Read more in the study notes
- General defences in tort (Law of Torts)