Ray v. McDevitt

In my opinion, a sheriff who contracts with an execution debtor to omit service of his execution, and does omit to serve it accordingly, is guilty of malfeasance in office; and it is as true when the writ is a fieri facias as it is in the case of a capias ad satisfaciendum. The contract is admittedly illegal and void in the latter case, and there is no difference in principle. Where parties make an illegal contract, the law declines to enforce it, leaving the parties where it finds them. This case is not changed by the fact that one of the parties has profited by the arrangement. That is…