Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to amend English common and tort law to ensure that the ex turpi causa non oritur actio doctrine is applied against plaintiffs in all cases.

The ex turpi causa non oritur actio doctrine operates in English law so that a claimant will be unable to benefit through the courts for a legal action should it arise from their own illegal act, or an act contrary to public policy. The doctrine is often applied by courts in tort cases to bar recovery by a claimant on public policy grounds – it is an important common law principle that prevents illegality or acts contrary to public policy from being used for personal gain.

There is a separate common law doctrine of illegality, which is subject to its own rules, and may operate to deny or limit recovery. Most claimants will not, however, have committed an illegal act. In such cases, the ex turpi causa doctrine is available to the defence or can be raised by the court of its own motion.

The principle is working in practice and as such, there are no current plans to reform the law.