![]() On hearing the plaintiff trying to break in, he shot his gun through a hole in the shed, injuring the plaintiff. For example, in Revill v Newberry an elderly allotment holder was sleeping in his shed with a shotgun, to deter burglars. If two burglars, Alice and Bob, agree to open a safe by means of explosives, and Alice so negligently handles the explosive charge as to injure Bob, Bob might find some difficulty in maintaining an action against Alice. In National Coal Board v England Lord Asquith said, “ In the law of tort, the principle would prevent a criminal from bringing a claim against (for example) a fellow criminal. So if the plaintiff and defendant were to change sides, and the defendant was to bring his action against the plaintiff, the latter would then have the advantage of it for where both were equally in fault, potior est conditio defendentis. ![]() It is upon that ground the court goes not for the sake of the defendant, but because they will not lend their aid to such a plaintiff. ![]() If, from the plaintiff's own standing or otherwise, the cause of action appears to arise ex turpi causa, or the transgression of a positive law of this country, there the court says he has no right to be assisted. No court will lend its aid to a man who founds his cause of action upon an immoral or an illegal act. ![]() The principle of public policy is this ex dolo malo non oritur actio. It is not for his sake, however, that the objection is ever allowed but it is founded in general principles of policy, which the defendant has the advantage of, contrary to the real justice, as between him and the plaintiff, by accident, if I may say so. The objection, that a contract is immoral or illegal as between plaintiff and defendant, sounds at all times very ill in the mouth of the defendant. In the early case of Holman v Johnson Lord Mansfield CJ set out the rationale for the illegality doctrine. ![]()
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