Clean hands in international business

Abstract

The clean hands doctrine is based on the principle that no one can legally benefit from his own deceit, and therefore maintains that any claim by a plaintiff must be excluded because of his own illegal conduct linked to the claim that he seeks and presents before a court or tribunal. To date, this doctrine has had some acceptance in the field of human rights in the International Court of Justice. However, the “clean hands” doctrine is currently calling for its application to the field of international business. It is not a new approach in the ethical field of international business and economic activities, but rather an ethical-jurisdictional need, arising from the intensification of an evil that, unfortunately, underlies and persists in the complex world of cross-border monetary-financial relations and, in general, in international business: corruption. To understand the origin, meaning and scope of the concept of “clean hands” it is necessary to delve into the study of English law, especially its contractual system and judicial precedent, which is what this paper attempt to do in summary. The novel and recent evolution favorable to the acceptance of the legal value of the principle of contractual good faith in English jurisprudence facilitates the application of the doctrine of clean hands with which its foundation is closely linked. Considering that “clean hands” has a marked ethical-jurisdictional character, it must be a generally accepted sine qua non requirement to exercise the right to jurisdiction, without distinction of the subject matter related to public procurement.