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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 .
Necessity and duress (compulsion) are different defenses in a criminal case. [1] [2] [3] The defense of duress applies when another person threatens imminent harm if defendant did not act to commit the crime. The defense of necessity applies when defendant is forced by natural circumstances to choose between two evils, and the criminal act is ...
Common-law systems codify the act of violating a law while under coercion as a duress crime. [ citation needed ] Coercion used as leverage may force victims to act in a way contrary to their own interests.
Duress can be a defense in many jurisdictions, although not for the most serious crimes of murder, [13] attempted murder, being an accessory to murder [14] and in many countries, treason. [15] The duress must involve the threat of imminent peril of death or serious injury, operating on the defendant's mind and overbearing his will. [16]
In English law, the defence of necessity recognises that there may be situations of such overwhelming urgency that a person must be allowed to respond by breaking the law. There have been very few cases in which the defence of necessity has succeeded, and in general terms there are very few situations where such a defence could even be applicable.
In the 2010 New York trial of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani who was accused of complicity in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ruled evidence obtained under coercion inadmissible. [17] The ruling excluded an important witness, whose name had been extracted from the defendant under duress. [18]
While not being available on the fact, the SCC's wider discussion of the law of duress in Canada is instructive. Duress is an excuse based defence which operates to negate criminal liability where the offence is the product of an accused’s morally involuntary conduct. There is both a statutory and common law defence of duress.