Clean Hands Definition:

In the doctrine of equity, this clean hands maxim applies:

He that hath committed iniquity shall not have equity."¹

The maxim is sometimes expressed as:

"He who seeks equity must do equity."²

In Precision Instrument Manufacturing Corporation., Justice Murphy of the Supreme Court of United States wrote:

"The guiding doctrine in this case is the equitable maxim that he who comes into equity must come with clean hands.

"This maxim is far more than a mere banality. It is a self-imposed ordinance that closes the doors of a court of equity to one tainted with inequitableness or bad faith relative to the matter in which he seeks relief, however improper may have been the behavior of the defendant. That doctrine is rooted in the historical concept of court of equity as a vehicle for affirmatively enforcing the requirements of conscience and good faith. This presupposes a refusal on its part to be the abettor of iniquity.

"Thus while equity does not demand that its suitors shall have led blameless lives, as to other matters, it does require that they shall have acted fairly and without fraud or deceit as to the controversy in issue."

In the 6th edition of Megarry & Wade on The Law of Real Property, the authors affirm:

"A party seeking equitable relief must come with clean hands. Although trivial misconduct will not be fatal to his claim, the court will refuse relief if he has seriously misconducted himself."

French: Mains propres.

REFERENCES:

• Duhaime, Lloyd, Duhaime's Legal Dictionary
• Duhaime, Lloyd, Duhaime's Legal Citations & Abbreviations
• Harpum, C., ed., Megarry & Wade on the Law of Real Property, 6th Ed. (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2000), page 743, 13-023.
• Koster v American Lumbermens, 330 US 518 (1947 - NOTE 2)
• NOTE 1: Francis Maxims, quoted in Heard, Franklin, Curiosities of The Law Reports (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1871), page 12.
• Precision Co. v. Automotive Co., 324 US 806 (1945)