Gates v. Winslow

The Court, (Dana, C. J., Strong, Sedgwick, and Thacher, justices,) without hearing the counsel for the defendants, were unanimous and clear that the plaintiffs could not support the action. They said the rule is (universally) that where the parties are equally innocent or equally guilty, melior est conditio possidentis. As no fraud or imposition is pretended to have been practised by the defendant, the Court will presume that the parties at the time of the transaction were on equal grounds. Any one who had voluntarily given away a sum of money might as well think of recovering it back as the…