A right of action can not arise out of fraud.

Explanation

(English-origin maxim.) A party who obtained his position through fraud cannot maintain an action to enforce it — fraud vitiates everything it touches and bars the fraudster from judicial relief.

Where this applies

• A company that obtained a government contract through bribery cannot sue a competitor for interfering with that contract, because the contract was born of fraud.
• A man who forged a deed to a house cannot bring an action to quiet title, because his claim to the property arose from fraud.
• A business that secured a loan by submitting false financial statements cannot sue the bank for refusing to extend additional credit, because the original right was obtained by deception.