Judging Equity: The Fusion of Unclean Hands into U.S. Law

Leigh Anenson analyzes the scope of judicial authority and discretion to recognize the equitable doctrine of unclean hands as a bar to actions seeking damages in the United States. Bringing an American perspective to contentious conversation about law-equity fusion in other countries of the common law, Anenson provides a historical, doctrinal, and theoretical account of the integration, analyzes cases in the federal courts and across the fifty states, and places the issue of integration within a broader debate over the fusion of law and equity. Her analysis also includes descriptive and normative accounts of the equitable maxim of unclean hands. This groundbreaking work, which clarifies conflicting case law and advances the idea of a principled fusion of law and equity, should be read by anyone interested in the need for equity – its cultivation, preservation, and celebration.

• Provides the first in-depth look at the relations between law and equity (fusion) in the US since the 1950's
• Explores the “clean hands” doctrine in the United States, which maps the boundaries of the defense and develops a principled metric for its operation
• Allows readers to understand the defense across a variety of legal topics, including legislation, in state and federal law
• Updates and challenges Chafee's work on unclean hands, which is still relied on by scholars worldwide