Skeels v. Phillips

Citations

• 54 Ill. 309

Syllabus

<p>Ex turpi causa non oritur actio. During the year 1864, and before the close of the late war of the rebellion, a provost marshal in this State, to whom persons who might be drafted into the military service of the United States under the then pending draft, were required to report, entered into a secret arrangement with one of his deputies, by which the latter was to engage in the business of procuring substitutes and selling them to such of the drafted men as did not wish to serve in the army, the provost marshal agreeing so to exercise his power, as an officer, as to render this substitute business a monopoly in the hands of himself and his deputy, the profits to be divided between them. The business resulted in large profits, of which the principal in the scheme seems to have received more than his share, and in a suit by the deputy to compel a more equitable distribution of the spoils, it was held, the court could not permit the agencies of the law to be employed in aid of either party to such an illegal and corrupt bargain.</p>