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Illegal Contracts And Agreements: A New Standard For Prostitution And Marijuana Agreements, Doug Rendleman
Illegal Contracts And Agreements: A New Standard For Prostitution And Marijuana Agreements, Doug Rendleman
Washington and Lee Law Review
Agreements exchanging sex for money and those involving marijuana may encounter illegality defenses in court. Granting a legal remedy for breach of an agreement that exchanges seriously illegal consideration would lower the court’s public standing and endanger its legitimacy. On the other hand, the spectacle of a buyer claiming its own illegality to escape paying its seller troubles courts.
Lord Mansfield stated the illegality defense in Holman v. Johnson: “No Court will lend its aid to a man who founds his cause of action upon an immoral or an illegal act.” Yet he rejected the illegality defense in that case …