In response to the first point, yes contracts can contain illegal things. I could have you sign a contract saying I'll pay you $20 a month to rob a bank every week. By default, I cannot enforce the "rob a bank", but you can enforce the "pay $20".
It's exactly like the ancient Deeds from the 50s that still hang onto neighboorhoods. My grandfather has sold homes (as recent as 1997) that had a Deed restriction saying "The home cannot be sold to people of color". Because that is illegal nowadays, it's simply ignored by the eyes of the law and cannot be enforced. (It's still there because it costs money to get it removed and there is no incentive for anyone to pay that fee)
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I had the same trouble when I tried to completly destroy Outlook Express (It was a hobby. I couldn't find any 'uninstall' or 'do not install' deals for it) As I recall, I eventually wrote a batch file and program to clear the contents of the directory the OE executables were in, remove the directory, create a file the name of the directory, then assign that file as being system and readonly. Finally, Windows2k said "I think something is weird, the file changed." Poof. Was funny watching OE regenerate, though.
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In response to the first point, yes contracts can contain illegal things. I could have you sign a contract saying I'll pay you $20 a month to rob a bank every week. By default, I cannot enforce the "rob a bank", but you can enforce the "pay $20".
It's exactly like the ancient Deeds from the 50s that still hang onto neighboorhoods. My grandfather has sold homes (as recent as 1997) that had a Deed restriction saying "The home cannot be sold to people of color". Because that is illegal nowadays, it's simply ignored by the eyes of the law and cannot be enforced. (It's still there because it costs money to get it removed and there is no incentive for anyone to pay that fee)
I had the same trouble when I tried to completly destroy Outlook Express (It was a hobby. I couldn't find any 'uninstall' or 'do not install' deals for it) As I recall, I eventually wrote a batch file and program to clear the contents of the directory the OE executables were in, remove the directory, create a file the name of the directory, then assign that file as being system and readonly. Finally, Windows2k said "I think something is weird, the file changed." Poof. Was funny watching OE regenerate, though.