Immoral Contracts - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition immoral-contracts

Definition :

Immoral contracts, contracts founded upon considerations contra bonos mores, are void. Ex turpi contractu non oritur actio. But where a contract founded upon an immoral consideration has been executed, neither law nor equity will interfere to set it aside if both parties have been equally in fault, for in pari delicto potior est conditio defendentis.

Yet a contract under seal, made in consideration of past seduction or cohabitation, can be enforced; not because it is binding in honour and conscience, for such a reason is not sufficient, but because it is a specialty (see CONTRACT), and has not been made for an executory consideration of an illegal nature. A covenant to pay money in consideration of future cohabitation is void, though under seal, Ayerst v. Jenkins, (1873) LR 16 Eq 275. See ILLEGAL CONTR-ACT.