Principle

No. I.1.5 - No advantage in case of own unlawful acts

A party may not derive an advantage from its own unlawful acts ("nullus commodum capere potest de iniuria sua propria", "ex iniuria non oritur ius", "clean hands theory").

Commentary

References

Contract Clauses

Commentary

The Principle is derived from the general Principle of good faith. It means that one party may not avail itself of the fact that the other party has not fulfilled a contractual obligation or has not had recourse to some means of redress, if the former party has, by some illegal act, prevented the latter from fulfilling the obligation in question or having recourse to that redress.

Please cite as: "Commentary to Trans-Lex Principle I.1.5 - No advantage in case of own unlawful acts, https://www.trans-lex.org/904000"

References

Doctrine

Black, Henry Campell, Black's Law Dictionary, 6th ed., St. Paul 1990

Cheng, Bin, General Principles Of Law as Applied by International Courts and Tribunals, reprinted, Cambridge 1987

Crook, John R., Applicable Law In International Commercial Arbitration: The Iran-US-Claims Tribunal Experience, 83 AJIL 1989, at 278 et seq.

Domingo, Ortega, Rodriguez-Antolin, Zambrana, Principios de Derecho Global, Navarra, 2006

Herstein, Ori J., A Normative Theory of the Clean Hands Defense, in: Legal Theory 2011 at page 1 et seq.

Kersley, R.H., M.A., LL.M./ Broom, Herbert, LL.D., A Selection of Legal Maxims, 10th ed. London, 1939

Laplante, Lisa J., The Law of Remedies and the Clean Hands Doctrine: Exclusionary Reparation Policies in Peru's Political Transition, in: Am. U. Int'l L. Rev. 23 at page 51 et seq.

Liebs, Detlef, Lateinische Rechtsregeln und Rechtssprichwörter, 4th ed., Munich 1986

Verdross, Alfred/ Simma, Bruno, Universelles Völkerrecht, 3rd ed., Berlin 1984

Arbitral Awards

Iran-US Claims Tribunal, Tippetts, Abbett, McCarthy, Stratton v. TAMS-AFFA, 6 IRAN-U.S. C.T.R., at 219 et seq.