All contracts which have for their object, directly or indirectly, to exempt any one from responsibility for his own fraud, or willful injury to the person or property of another, or violation of law, whether willful or negligent, are against the policy of the law.
Cal. Civ. Code § 1668
UNLAWFUL CONTRACTS
Applied in 192 court decisions — leading case At&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion (2011)
Most recently applied in New England Country Foods, LLC v. Vanlaw Food Products, Inc. (December 2023)
Enacted 1872.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.