unclean hands
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 324 U.S. 806 - Precision Instrument Mfg Co v. Automotive Maintenance Machinery Co · 1945Most cited · 2,252 citing opinions
scope
one's misconduct need not necessarily have been of such a nature as to be punishable as a crime or as to justify legal proceedings of any character. Any willful act concerning the cause of action which rightfully can be said to transgress equitable standards of conduct is sufficient cause for the invocation of the maxim by the chancellor
How often courts cite the case defining “unclean hands”
Court decisions citing the opinion that defined “unclean hands” — 2,246 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining case as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.