ABSTRACT
The ‘protective’ exception to the illegality bar appears in a number of guises. Statutory rent control provides a straightforward instance. Where housing legislation imposes limits on rents or forbids practices such as acceptance of premiums or ‘key money’, it was held in Gray v Southouse98 that the lessee can recover moneys so paid, even in the absence of the statutory provision to that effect which is now near-universal.99 Similarly with legislation making it illegal for an insurance company to carry on business without authorisation: this exists to protect policyholders from the effects of the underwriter’s insolvency, and should not prevent recovery of premiums by the assured.100
