Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Academic Blogs -> Legal Theory Blog

Academic

: Legal Theory Blog

Anenson on Unclean Hands

By Lawrence Solum

T. Leigh Anenson (University of Maryland - Robert H. Smith School of Business) has posted Beyond Chafee: A Process-Based Theory of Unclean Hands (American Business Law Journal, Vol. 47, 2010) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

This paper presents a legal decision-making framework for the incorporation of unclean hands in damages actions and uses actual cases to illustrate its application and interpretation. The unclean hands doctrine has been known to be a challenge, burdened by inconsistent results and judicial discord. Worse, the uncertainty over its post-merger status in cases at law has added to the confusion. This paper provides guidance for courts to evaluate the defense under the common and statutory law, taking as a starting point the well-known scholarship of the late Harvard Law Professor Zechariah Chafee. The process-based theory proposed in this paper integrates the defense across claims by focusing on its court protection purpose. It also unifies the disparate treatment of the defense across jurisdictions by providing a procedural paradigm of incorporation. The recommended framework will not only clarify unclean hands, but also advance the assimilation of this equitable defense into the law.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on April 20, 2010 (boomark / email).