## Facts

- After the father’s death, the eldest son of the Traiton family inherited the family house.
- The mother had lived in the house for years without paying rent.
- Disagreements arose between the eldest son and the mother about repairs and the condition of the property.
- The mother was said to have neglected upkeep, and the eldest son feared she would continue to let the house decay.
- The eldest son granted the house to his younger brother.
- In connection with that transfer, the eldest son procured a penal bond that set a monetary penalty if the younger brother permitted their mother to come into the house.
- The bond was made payable to the parties’ sister, and the sister took possession of the bond.
- The younger brother filed in the Court of Chancery seeking relief from the bond, asking that it not be enforced and that it be given up and cancelled.

## Issues

1. Whether equity will give relief against a penal bond that imposes a financial forfeiture if a son permits his mother to enter the family home.
2. Whether the court may treat the bond according to its real purpose, even though it is formally payable to the sister who holds it.

## Decision

- The Court of Chancery refused to support enforcement of the penal bond.
- The court decreed that the bond be delivered up and cancelled.
- The court treated the condition—penalizing a son for receiving or “cherishing” his mother—as contrary to the law of nature, and therefore not a fit subject for equitable assistance.

## Legal Principles

- A court of equity may grant relief against a penal bond when the condition and object of the bond are unconscionable rather than compensatory.
- Equity may deny assistance to agreements that seek to restrain performance of a basic familial and moral duty, such as a child’s duty to care for a parent.
- In deciding whether to grant relief, equity may look past formal structure (including use of a third-party payee) to the substance and purpose of the arrangement.
- Where a bond operates as a coercive threat to force wrongful conduct, equitable relief may include ordering the instrument delivered up and cancelled so it cannot be used at law.

## Conclusion

In *Traiton v. Traiton*, the Court of Chancery granted equitable relief from a penal bond designed to punish a younger son if he allowed his mother into the family house, ordering the bond surrendered and cancelled because the condition was against the law of nature and equity would not aid such an arrangement.


Traiton v. Traiton, 23 Eng. Rep. 554 (1686)