“One of the fundamental elements to the creation of a contract is the requirement that the object of the contract be lawful. Section 1595 of the Civil Code defines the “object of a contract” as “the thing which is agreed, on the part of the party receiving the consideration, to do or not to do.” Pursuant to Section 1596 of the Civil Code, the object of the contract must be lawful when the contract is made. Illegality takes many forms, both substantive and procedural. As one court observed: “ ‘The illegality of an agreement may be in the consideration, in a promise, or in its performance.’ ” Contracting parties may prescribe many aspects of their relationship and obligations, but not all; some efforts to modify what the law prescribes are illegal. Although most of the cases involving illegal contracts concern express contracts, the requirement of a legal object applies equally to implied contracts.”
[California Affirmative Defenses [certain citations omitted]]
