Court Opinion

ID: 3400038
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2016-07-05 19:11:14.550011+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:37:11.201891
License: Public Domain

In 1 Pomeroy's Equity Jurisprudence (4th ed.), 738, § 397, it is said: "The maxim . . he who comes into equity must come with clean *Page 892 
hands, . . assumes that the suitor asking the aid of a court of equity has himself been guilty of conduct in violation of the fundamental conceptions of equity jurisprudence, and therefore refuses him all recognition and relief with reference to the subject-matter or transaction in question. It says that whenever a party, who, as actor, seeks to set the judicial machinery in motion and obtain some remedy, has violated conscience, or good faith, or other equitable principle, in his prior conduct, then the doors of the court will be shut against him in limine; the court will refuse to interfere on his behalf, to acknowledge his right, or to award him any remedy." In § 401 illustrations are given for application of the principle where the plaintiff's claim is affected by his own fraud. It is said: "If a contract has been entered into through fraud, or to accomplish any fraudulent purpose, a court of equity will not, at the suit of one of the fraudulent parties — a particeps doli, while the agreement is still executory, either compel its execution or decree its cancellation, nor, after it has been executed, set it aside, and thus restore the plaintiff to the property or other interest which he had fraudulently transferred. Equity will leave such parties in exactly the position in which they have placed themselves, refusing all affirmative aid to either of the fraudulent participants." In § 402 illustrations are given for application of the principle where illegality of the transaction was involved and the parties were in pari delicto. It is said: "The principle is thus applied in the same manner when the illegality is merely a malum prohibitum, being in contravention to some positive statute, and when it is a malum in se as being contrary to public policy or to good morals. Among the latter class are agreements and transfers the consideration of which was violation of chastity, compounding of a felony, gambling, false swearing, the commission of any crime, or breach of good morals." See Watkins v. Nugen, 118 Ga. 372 (45 S.E. 260); Deen v.Williams, 128 Ga. 265 (3, 4) (57 S.E. 427); 7 Words and Phrases 444, and cit.; 21 C. J. 180, §§ 163, 171, 173, 177, 178, and cit.
The plaintiff Kelly seeks the aid of equity to escape the results of his conduct in causing legal title and possession of the land to be vested in the woman (now Mrs. Guffin), which she afterwards conveyed to her mother, Mrs. Kay. Being himself a married man, his agreement to intermarry with the woman, now Mrs. *Page 893 
Guffin, was contrary to public policy which encourages matrimonial harmony. In these circumstances the participation of the plaintiff in the enterprise was contrary to public policy, and with respect to the matter now in question put him in the position of one who under the rules of equity has not clean hands. The case is not altered by the subsequent conveyance by the woman to her mother. The mother as grantee in such conveyance stands in the shoes of the daughter, and, without resort to the merits of the plaintiff's demand, may suggest that the plaintiff comes not with clean hands, and consequently may not enjoy remedies that might otherwise be afforded in equity. If it were otherwise, the wholesome general rule could be avoided wherever there was alienation of the property, notwithstanding the plaintiff's hands remained defiled. In the circumstances equity will not declare a trust in favor of the plaintiff or grant him other relief, but will leave the parties and the property where it finds them, with full legal title vested in the mother.