Re Crippen, [1911] P 108
Citation:Re Crippen, [1911] P 108
Rule of thumb:Can any action based on an illegal act be enforced in Court? No, if you can show that any action is based on an illegal act or crime having been committed, then the Court will not enforce this.
Judgment:
The Court in this case affirmed the ‘no rights from crime’ principle – there is a clear and simple principle that no person can obtain any rights as a result of their own crime. The facts of this case were that a man murdered his wife who was intestate. Before this man was executed he created a will leaving all his estate to his mistress. The mistress tried to claim all of the man’s estate and the estate of his former wife. On the basis of the ‘no rights from crime’ principle the Court held that the man did not inherit any of his wife’s estate, and his mistress was therefore not entitled to the murdered woman’s estate, ‘no person can obtain, or enforce, any rights resulting to him from his own crime; neither can his representative, claiming under him, obtain or enforce any such rights. The human mind revolts at the very idea that any other doctrine could be possible in our system of jurisprudence’, Evans P at 112
Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.