Connivance is the act of conniving or conspiring, especially with the knowledge of and active or passive consent to wrongdoing or a twist in truth, to make something appear as something that it is not.
A legal finding of connivance may be made when an accuser has assisted in the act about which they are complaining. In some legal jurisdictions, and for certain behaviors, it may prevent the accuser from prevailing.
For example, if someone were to entice their spouse to commit
adultery
Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...
, they might be blocked (or
estopped
Estoppel is a judicial device in common law legal systems whereby a court may prevent or "estop" a person from making assertions or from going back on his or her word; the person being sanctioned is "estopped". Estoppel may prevent someone from ...
) from divorcing their spouse on grounds of that adultery. See ''Sargent v. Sargent'', Court of Chancery of New Jersey, 1920 (Held a man who had not taken active steps to prevent his wife's adultery was not entitled to divorce because he was a participator and consenter to her adultery).
See also
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Collusive lawsuit
A collusive lawsuit or collusive action is a lawsuit in which the parties to the suit have no actual quarrel with one another, but one sues the other to achieve some result desired by both.
Examples
Constitutional law
For example, if two peop ...
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Hypocrisy
Hypocrisy is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another or the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform. In moral psychology, it is the ...
References
Legal terminology
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