Also known as: public policy doctrines · public-policy doctrine · public policy · public-policy exception
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A principle under which courts decline to enforce agreements or legal arrangements whose purposes or terms contravene established public policy.
Pearl Porter leased space to Pinnacle Holdings. The lease stated that the landlord could change the locks and remove the tenant without court process if rent fell behind. State law provided only judicial eviction. When the tenant fell behind, the landlord invoked the clause. The court held the self help provision unenforceable.
Paige Porter signed a gym membership that released the facility from all liability for injuries caused by its own negligence during equipment use. She later suffered harm from a defective treadmill. The court refused to enforce the release because it violated public policy.
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Piper Patel created a trust directing the trustee to pay beneficiaries only if they committed specified regulatory violations. The trustee refused to administer the trust. The court declared the trust invalid because its purpose violated public policy.
Portia Price borrowed from Paragon Construction and signed a mortgage that converted the instrument into an absolute deed upon any default. When default occurred the lender claimed full title. The court voided the clause as an impermissible clog on the equity of redemption.
Patrick Phan granted a servitude allowing a neighbor to maintain a fence that blocked access to a public road. One reading would bar all emergency vehicles. The court adopted the narrower reading that preserved access because it avoided a public policy violation.
Priya Prasad married for immigration purposes under an agreement that neither spouse would provide support or share assets. When support was later sought the court refused to enforce the collateral agreement because it contradicted the obligations inherent in marriage.
A term is unenforceable when the interest in its enforcement is clearly outweighed by a public policy against enforcement. Courts weigh the parties justified expectations, any forfeiture that would result, and the strength of the policy as shown in statutes or prior decisions.
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The doctrine applies across multiple areas. A trust may be created only to the extent its purposes are not contrary to public policy. A servitude is interpreted to avoid violating public policy when reasonable alternative readings exist.
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An express agreement to accept a risk of harm from negligent conduct is invalid if contrary to public policy. The rule stated in the assumption of risk section does not apply when such an agreement would itself violate public policy.
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Any agreement that unreasonably restricts or waives the right to redeem is generally void as against public policy. Courts treat such clogging provisions as converting the security into an absolute conveyance and refuse enforcement.
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Collateral agreements that contradict the usual obligations of marriage are invalid as a matter of public policy. Courts applying the traditional approach treat the marriage itself as valid but refuse to enforce terms that eliminate core marital duties.
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…and neither they nor their beliefs are disparaged here. But when that sincere, personal opposition becomes enacted law and public policy, the necessary consequence is to put the imprimatur of the State itself on an exclusion that soon demeans or stigmatizes those whose own liberty is then denied. Under the Constitution,…