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Duress is a threat of harm made to compel someone to do something against their will or judgment; especially a wrongful threat made by one person to compel a manifestation of seeming assent by another person to a transaction without real volition. - Black's Law Dictionary (8th ed. 2004) Duress in contract law falls into two broad categories: [6]
Duress in English law is a complete common law defence, operating in favour of those who commit crimes because they are forced or compelled to do so by the circumstances, or the threats of another. The doctrine arises not only in criminal law but also in civil law, where it is relevant to contract law and trusts law .
Coercion involves compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner through the use of threats, including threats to use force against that party. [1] [2] [3] It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a desired response.
This is a legal as well as a political decision. In the civil law, duress is similarly only an exculpation, rendering contracts and other transactions voidable, and offering only minor mitigation in the calculation of the amount of any damages payable. Mistake of fact and mistake of law in criminal law and in mistake in contract law
"Rescission" at common law. Rescission at common law (as distinct from rescission in equity) is a self-help remedy: historically, the common law courts simply gave effect to the rescinding party's unequivocal election to rescind the contract. Rescission at common law is only available for fraudulent misrepresentations and duress.
In common law jurisdictions, the notion of an unjustified threat is referred to as "duress". Black's Law Dictionary defines duress as a "threat of harm made to compel a person to do something against his or her will or judgment; esp., a wrongful threat made by one person to compel a manifestation of seeming assent by another person to a ...
An affirmative defense to a civil lawsuit or criminal charge is a fact or set of facts other than those alleged by the plaintiff or prosecutor which, if proven by the defendant, defeats or mitigates the legal consequences of the defendant's otherwise unlawful conduct.
Per minas, in English Common Law, is to engage in behaviour "by means of menaces or threats". The term comes from Latin. Per minas has been used as a defence of duress to certain crimes, as affecting the element of mens rea. William Blackstone, the often-cited judge and legal scholar, addressed the use of "duress per minas " under the category of self-defense as a means of securing the "right ...