7/20/2023 0 Comments Ex dolo malo non oritur actioThe Courts will not lend their aid to enforce contracts founded upon considerations immoral or against public policy. And whether that can be, is the question.Įx turpi causa non oritur actio, is a maxim as old as the law itself. But the contracts having been performed by the governments, and the parties coming now to settle the profits between themselves, and being unable to agree, it is insisted that the aid of the Courts may be invoked. It is not denied that this was a fraud upon those governments, and against public policy, and that the contracts could not have been enforced against those governments. The care and maintenance of certain sick persons in the service of the United States, and of the sick of the city of Wilmington, and of the county of New Hanover, were let to the lowest (470) bidder by the several governments, and the plaintiff and defendant, who were rival bidders for the same, entered into a contract not to bid against each other, so as to enable one or both to get the contract at a much higher rate, and divide the profits between them. From the orders and rulings of his Honor, the defendant appealed. The plaintiff excepted to the report of the referee, and his Honor, on the trial below, sustained some of his exceptions, adjudging, among other things, that the plaintiff was entitled to an account, and referring it to the Clerk to take the account. And that the agreement between the parties, was in fraud of the city of Wilmington, illegal and void, and both parties being in pari delicto, no Court would lend its aid to either to enforce the contract in this case, to compel an account. It was referred to a referee, who after finding certain facts, reported as his conclusion, that the parties were never at any time partners inter se, whatever may have been their status as to third person.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |