Duress

According to the philosophy of law, duress or coercion points to a condition where a person executes an act as a consequence of physical threat or pressure. Duress is the stress put forth upon a person to pressurize that person to do an act that he or she normally would not perform. It has 2 features; one is that it contradicts a person’s approval to an act such as entering into a contract and secondly, as a probable lawful protection to an otherwise illegal act. In his defense, the defendant can claim that the despite the fact that he performed the act, he was coerced to perform the act by a third party.

In order for duress to meet the requirements to qualify as a defense, it should have 4 requirements:

• The threat intended must be of a grave physical injury.
• The threatened damage must be superior to the damage inflicted by the offense.
• The threat should be instantaneous and unavoidable.
• The defendant must have been involved in the situation through no mistake of his own.

Duress falls into 3 types based on the contract law:

Physical Duress

A guiltless party who wished to set aside an agreement for duress to the person needs to establish only that, the threat was made and that it was a motive for entry into the contract. The responsibility of testimony then transfers to the other party to attest that the threat had no affect whatsoever in causing the party to get into the contract.

Duress to goods

In this scenario, one party snubs to let go of the goods belonging to the other party until and unless the other party enters into a contract with them.

Economic Duress

A contract becomes voidable if the guiltless party is able to prove that it had no other choice but to consent to the contract.

The ultimate effect of coercion is that it renders the contract voidable at the option of the party whose consent was obtained by coercion. To put it simple, the party whose consent is obtained by coercion can put an end to the contact, if the party chooses so.