Chicanery and Abuse of the Law
![handle is hein.journals/polamrcn2 and id is 71 raw text is: CHICANERY AND ABUSE OF THE
LAW
By A. S. GREGORIUS
OU WILL not find chicanery defined in Bouvier's, nor
as a title or sub-title in any American law digest. It is
not -recognized as a legal term in Anglo-American law,
and Louisiana has so far departed from its civil law founda-
tions that it does not include the term in any of its statutes.
Professor Kocourek in his Jural Relations, wherein he invents
a new terminology, omits the word entirely.
Yet chicanery as a legal subject is engaging the attention
of civilians writing in Europe. In connection with abuse of
the law, chicanery from the viewpoint of Roman law is dis-
cussed at great length in a very interesting paper presented
by S. Riccobone at the second Internationl Congress of Com-
parative Law at the Hague in 1937. H. Kreller in his paper at
the same conference makes frequent references to chicanery.
Both papers may be found in the bound volume of the proceed-
ings of that Congress. A comprehensive review of the subject
appeared recently in two issues of the Warsaw Court Gazette.*
A broad definition of chicanery in civil law is the exercise
of a right for the purpose of injuring another. Abuse of the
law (l'abus du droit) is a broader concept and may be defined
as the exercise of a right which is in conflict with public policy.
Both are defined and prohibited in most European codes. An
accepted principle in the German doctrine of civil law is the
prohibition of any legal act which is contrary to good usage.
(Cosack: Burgerliches Recht, Vol I, 7th ed., pages 223 and; 309).
These problems in American law are met by the doctrines
of public policy and the principles of equity.
Aside of its civil legal import, chicanery in the practice
of law may be considered in its ethical aspect.
The 'Century Dictionary defines chicanery to be trickery,
sharp practice, caviling, wrangling, the art of gaining an ad-
*Gazeta Sqdtowa Warszawska. Prof. Bossowski's article. January 24th and
31st, 1938.
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