In pari turpitudine melior est causa possidentis

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In pari turpitudine melior est causa possidentis , denotes the principle that in the event of a moral violation by both parties, the disputed object remains with the recipient or owner.

Switzerland

The principle that if both parties act equally immoral, the legal position of the owning party is better, can be found in Art. 66 of the Swiss Code of Obligations (OR). It permeates the entire law of unjustified enrichment and must be observed as a general principle, especially in the case of claims under Art. 648 OR (stock corporation law action for unjustified enrichment) based on Art. 2 of the Swiss Civil Code (ZGB), but also in connection with Art. 754 OR (cf. BJM 5/2008, p 263 above).

Germany

In the German enrichment law, § 817 sentence 2 BGB stipulates that in service relationships a reclaim due to unjust enrichment is excluded if, in addition to the recipient, the service provider is also guilty of a violation of a legal prohibition or of common decency, unless the service is provided consisted of entering into a liability; what has been done to fulfill such an obligation cannot be reclaimed.