Clean hands doctrine

Common card · No. 445802

In non-criminal matters, the clean hands doctrine, also called the unclean hands doctrine or dirty hands doctrine, states that a party is required to be free of wrongdoing (come with "clean hands") if it wants the court to issue a ruling in their favour. The "wrongdoing" may consist of breaking the law, or acting unethically, unfairly or in bad faith with respect to the other party of the complaint. The wrongdoing must be directly related to the specific case at hand and not be just "background" misbehaviour. The purpose of the doctrine is to prevent disingenuous parties from benefitting from their own misconduct. Showing "unclean hands" is an affirmative defence, which the judge has discretion to not approve. If a party raises it, it has the burden of proof to show that the other party is being dishonest. It is generally invoked by a defendant to the lawsuit to avoid liability. But plaintiffs may also use it offensively, too, to deny the defendant the possibility to raise other defences...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Thomas Rowlandson (1756–1827) and Augustus Charles Pugin (1762–1832) (after) John Bluck (fl. 1791–1819), Joseph Constantine Stadler (fl. 1780–1812), Thomas Sutherland (1785–1838), J. Hill, and Harrad…, Public domain