Is a contract that violates the statutory provisions of a common and statutory contract void ab initio?
Alberta, Canada
The following excerpt is from EasyFinancial Services Ltd. v. Rivard, 2008 ABPC 350 (CanLII):
Courts have traditionally found that contracts which violate statutory provisions are void ab initio, that is, void from the outset. In Cope v. Royland, (1836), 150 E.R. 707, as quoted in New Transport, supra, it was stated that “[W]here the contract which the plaintiff seeks to enforce ... is expressly or by implication forbidden by the common or statute law, no court will lend its assistance to give it effect.”
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