When a contract is partly legal and partly illegal, the courts will what?

Question

enforce the entire contract
void the entire contract
order a rewrite
try to seperate the two parts

Answer 1

If you drive the speed limit while transporting drugs the court will what?

A contract is like being dead or pregnant. You are not half of either, it is all or nothing.

An "Iron Clad Contract" with a 13 year old is nothing more than tinder for the fireplace.

Any court I have ever heard of will void the contract.

Answer 2

Depends on the language within the contract. Most contracts have a clause that allows the illegal part to be separated from the part that is legal.

When the contract has no provision the courts will look at who wrote the contract, the terms of what is illegal, and what work was done under the contract.

Generally a court does not want a person to do work under a contract and then not get paid. If some work has been done the court more than likely will make the other person pay a fair price for it. If the person who wrote the contract knew that a portion was illegal the court may force that person to pay what was due, even if the work was not completed.

Answer 3

Any of the above. It depends on the relevant laws, the degree to which the illegal portion taints the whole, and whether the contract contains specific language dealing with this issue.

The court will almost never enforce the entire contract, but they may enforce the legal portions despite the fact that there are illegal portions -- if the illegal portions do not come into play in the dispute. That is no different in net result than enforcing the entire contract with regard to that dispute.

Severance -- splitting of the illegal portions -- is common, and many contracts contain severance clauses to specifically direct the court to interpret the contract that way.

Reformation -- rewriting -- is also not uncommon, though the laws vary by jurisdiction as to the extent that courts may do this.

Voiding the entire contract is uncommon -- but can happen where the illegal portion is so pervasive that it taints the entire contract and where (either because of contact wording or applicable law) there is no way to sever or reform the contract.

If this is a homework assignment, your textbook may pick one of those as the "correct" answer. The above is how the law actually works in the real world.