APPELLANT IN REPLY. I. The appeal in this cause was taken by appellant in his fiduciary character and he is therefore entitled to appeal from his removal as administrator with supersedeas and without bond for costs. Clay v. Cunningham, 26 Ky. Law Rep. 520, 82 S.W. 973; Cuendet v. Henderson, 166 Mo. 647, 66 S.W. 1079; Hudson v. Gray, 58 Miss. 589; Muirhead v. Muirhead, 8 Sm. M. 211; Re Bellows Estate, 60 Vt. 224, 14 A. 697; State ex rel Baker v. Bird, 253 Mo. 569, 162 S.W. 110; State Use of Calvert v. Williams (Md.), 9 Gill 172; Waitt v. Harvey, 312 Mass. 384, 45 N.E.2d 1; Sec. 1209, Code 1942. II. The matter of whether or not appellee is disqualified to serve as administratrix is not in issue.

A contract made in violation of a criminal statute is illegal and unenforceable in Tennessee, and the courts of this State "will not enforce contracts made in open violation of the law, and will give no relief either by way of enforcing the contract or in giving damages for its breach."Binswanger S., Inc. v. Textron, Inc., 860 S.W.2d 862, 866 (Tenn.Ct.App. 1993) (quoting Peterson v. Cunningham, 6 Tenn.App. 427, 431 (Tenn.Ct.App. 1927)). In addition to the criminal penalty, the legislature provides that a person violating the Act will be prohibited from bringing suit to recover a commission.

A contract made in violation of a criminal statute is illegal and unenforceable in Tennessee, and the courts of this State "will not enforce contracts made in open violation of the law, and will give no relief either by way of enforcing the contract or in giving damages for its breach." Peterson v. Cunningham, 6 Tenn. App. 427, 431 (1927). When the Binswanger Company offered and agreed to perform real estate brokerage services without a license, upon the promise of receiving a fee from AVCO, it entered into a contract expressly condemned by a criminal statute of Tennessee, and is therefore barred as a matter of law from seeking to enforce the contract and from recovering damages for its breach.