Legality Object and Chap Business

ConslderaUon ter 7 49 50 Law

3. It saves the time and eftort of court from engaging in such unintended Where a person entering into an illegal contract promises expressly or by
dealings. implication that the contact is blameless, such a promise amounts lo a collateral
3. It brings certainty by imposition of various conditions where remedy is agreement upon which the other party, it, in tact, innocent ot turpitude, may sue for
not available even to the injured party, so, a person may remain tar from such
damages", M borrows Rs. 10,000 from N in order to bet with Pas to the result of a
dealings.
4. The court should not be a means to enforce rights in unlawful cricket match. Since a contract of betting in respect or a cricket match is void, if M
transaction. loses, P cannot recover from B. But :sJ can recover the sum from M since his
5. It helps to keep good moral in a society or state. transaction with M is only collateral to a void contract and is enforceable.
UNLAWFUL AND ILLEGAL AGREEMENT On the other hand, i1 A had lent B Rs. 50,000 for the purchase of a revolver to
enable B to shoot C. The question whether A can recover the stun from B depends
An unlawful agreement is one which, like a void agi·eement, is not enforceable
upon whether A was aware of the purpose for which the monev was borrowed. If A,
as it is discountenanced by law. It is void-ab-initio and is destitute of legal effects
knowing the illegal purpose, had lent the monev, he cannot recover, because his loan
altogether. An unlawful agreement may be illegal, or inunoral, or opposite to public
was an aid to the illegal object of B, and the illegal object taints collateral
policy. It can be describe as shown in the figure below:
transaction also 8. If, on the other hand, A did not know the purpose for which B
Unlawful Agreement
borrowed the money even though 8 might have purchased a revolver and shot C, A
can recover. Therefore, uie validity of collateral contract of i.lleg~I agreement and the
Immoral ,ights of the pa,·ty involve in such collateral transaction depends upon his knowledge
Agreement
(Contrary to positive that his participation in the transaction may assist or lead for the commission of an act
morar reco nized
forbidden by law, i.e., illegal acts.
lllicits co- Commit a crime
habitation civil wrong or to
· Further, L lends Rs. 5,000 to M to help him to purchase some prohibited goods
01
Separat perpetrate a fraud
ion between husband Trading with an alien from T, an alien enemy. If M enters into an agreement with T, the agreement will be
and wife
enemy Sale of public office illegal and the agreement between L and M shall also become illegal, belng collateral
Assisting or
and tide
funding for prostitution
· Interfere in to the main transaction which is illegal. L cannot, therefore, recover the amount. He
adminisuation at iLGtice can recover the amount if he did not know ol the puq>ose of the loan.
Resuaint of paremat
1igh1S Restraints of marriage Eve,y illegal agi·eement is unlawful, but every unlawful agreement is not
Resttainl ot 1rad& Of pro1oo.aion
Restraint of personal liberty necessarily illegal. It is sometimes difficult to decide as to whether an act is illegal or
AB$1fajnlS of u:;ing common unlawful is many of the illegal and unlawful acts lie on the borderline. It may, however
facilities provided
by state Defraud tax or be observed that illegal acts are those which involve the commission of a crime or
revenue contain an element of obvious moral turpitude and where the wicked attribute is
Illegal
Agreements reasonably obvious, or are, in some other way, contrary to public policy. A criminal
At tllis stage, the distu·1ction between void contracts ,md illegal conh·acts may act is one which is forbidden by law and revolting to the moral sentiments lo the
be noticed. A void conh·act is one which has no legal effect and affects only tl1e society. A crime is something more than a mere disobedience to a law.
immediate parties and has no furtlter consequence. An illegal agreement while
Effect of lllegallty
resemblli1g the void conh'act, in that is also has no legal effect as between tl1e
itrnnediate parties, has this further effect that even b·ansactions collatPJ'al to it
become tainted with illegality and are therefo,-e, not enforceable and in certain
circumstance punishable by law as like that of principal ag,·eement. An agi·eement
to commit a crime or tort, e.g., an agreement to assault 5, or theft, or an agreement to
The general rule of law is t11at no action is allowed on an illegal agreement.
publish a libel• is illegal. TI1is is based on the following to maxims:

'Allon V Roscous, (1670) 2 Lav 174 'Strongman Lid V Sincock (1955) 2 QB 525, GrogoryV Ford, (1951) 1 All ER 121
'Apthop V Nevile & Co (1907) 23 TL R 575 ' Fisher V Bridges (1854) 118 ER 1283

4.
3.