40 N.H. 473 | N.H. | 1860
It was decided in Ladd v. Wiggin, 35 N. H. 421, that the note for $350 was a subsisting and valid contract, notwithstanding it was given up to Tilton. The
Money paid upon any legal consideration which has wholly failed, may be recovered back; and illegality in the contract will not prevent the recovery of money paid under it, unless the plaintiff is in pari delicto with the defendant. But when the parties are in pari delicto, the' contract is wholly void; the law does not lend its aid to carry their agreements into effect; neither party can maintain an action which requires the contract for its support,
If Tilton gave the deed to Ladd fraudulently, to prevent the attachment or seizure of his property upon mesne process or execution, he committed an indictable offence; and if Ladd received the deed fraudulently, for the same purpose, he was guilty of a similar offence, and could not recover the money paid. Eev. Stat., ch. 215, secs. 19, 20 and 21. If a purchaser cannot recover back the price paid when the sale only is indictable, he certainly cannot recover it back when the sale and the purchase are both indictable; and if the receiving the deed by Ladd was without the intent necessary to make it a crime, still, if he knew that Tilton gave the deed fraudulently, to prevent the attachment or seizure of the land upon mesne process or execution, Ladd, being conclusively presumed to know the law, stood in the position of a vendee where the sale is indictable without any particular intent on the part of the vendor. If he was aware of Tilton’s fraudulent intent, he is presumed to have known that Tilton’s act, in giving the deed, was criminal, and he could not recover money paid for doing that act; but if Ladd had no fraudulent intent, and did not know or believe that Tilton had such intent, he would not be prevented from recovering the money paid, by the rule of law applicable to criminal offences.
If money is hired and lent for the purpose of being used in suppressing a criminal prosecution, it. cannot be recovered, and public policy requires many contracts to be
The plaintiff may recover upon the notes, even if Ladd took the deed with intent to defraud the creditors of Tilton, but his right to recover the $420, paid in money, depends upon the question whether it was paid in entire-good faith, which is a question for the jury.
Case discharged.