A contract is illegal if either its formation or its performance is contrary to the public interest and to public In general, illegal contracts are While there is a wide variety of situation which may produce illegal contracts, the discussion in this lesson will focus on three broad categories of such contracts: (1) contracts in violation of positive law, (2) contracts expressly made void by statute, and (3) contracts contrary to public Contracts in violation of positive A contract which provides for the commission of a crime or whose nature tends to induce the commission of a crime is Similarly, a contract which cannot be performed without the commission of a tort is illegal; however, the fact that a tort is committed during the performance of a contract does not in itself make the contract Contracts made illegal by Statutes which expressly deal with the legality of certain types of contracts may be divided into three groups: (1) criminal statutes, (2) statutes expressly declaring contracts void, and (3) regulatory Statutes commonly have statutes which either prohibit or regulate Generally, wagering contracts are illegal and will not be Wagering contracts should be distinguished from contracts to shift a In a wagering contract, a risk is created for the purpose of bearing it---such as a bet on a football A risk-shifting contract---such as an insurance contract---is legal so long as the person purporting to shift the risk actually had the Stock and commodity market transaction entered into in good faith are speculative contracts and not illegal as Some common example of statutes declaring certain types of contracts illegal are usury laws and Sunday closing or blue These statutes often make the contracts void and may subject the parties involved to various penalties and