George Sutherland, Manufacturers' Finance Company v…
“ The mere fact that a party is obliged to go into a federal court of equity to enforce an essentially legal right arising upon a contract valid and unassailable under controlling state law does not authorize that court to modify or ignore the terms of the legal obligation upon the claim, or because the court thinks, that these terms are harsh or oppressive or unreasonable. ”
George Sutherland, Manufacturers' Finance Company v…
“ The maxim that 'he who comes into equity must come with clean hands,' which the District Court invoked and made the basis of its decision, for reasons similar to those already stated, is equally inapplicable. Certainly no unconscionable or inequitable conduct can be attributed to petitioner because it undertook to secure the fruits of a perfectly valid, albeit a hard, contract in the only court to which it could apply without being subject to a charge of contempt. ”
George Sutherland, Manufacturers' Finance Company v…
“ A party may stand upon the terms of a valid contract in a court of equity as he may in a court of law. 'If he asks no favors, he need grant none. But if he calls upon a court of chancery to put forth its extraordinary powers and grant him purely equitable relief, he may with propriety be required to submit to the operation of a rule which always applies in such cases, and do equity in order to get equity.' Fosdick v. ”
