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Editing Contracts/Duress
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===Physical duress=== | ===Physical duress=== | ||
====Duress to the person==== | ====Duress to the person==== | ||
Professor Ronald Griffin, | Professor Ronald Griffin, Washburn University School of Law, Topeka, KS, puts physical duress simply: "Your money or your life." | ||
In ''[[Barton v Armstrong]]'',<ref>''[[Barton v Armstrong]]'' [1976] AC 104 [http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKPC/1973/2.html BAILII]</ref> a decision of the [[Privy Council]], Armstrong (defendant) sought to coerce Barton (plaintiff) into executing a deed relating to the sale of certain companies by threatening to have him murdered. While the plaintiff took the threats seriously, other business reasons existed for signing the contract. An innocent party wishing to set aside a contract for duress to the person need only prove that the threat was made and that it was a reason for entry into the contract. Furthermore, once it is established that the threat was made, the onus lies on the person who made the threat to prove that the threat made no contribution to the plaintiff's decision to enter the agreement.<ref>See ''Crescendo Management Pty Ltd v Westpac Banking Corp'' (1988) 19 NSWLR 40, 46.</ref> | In ''[[Barton v Armstrong]]'',<ref>''[[Barton v Armstrong]]'' [1976] AC 104 [http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKPC/1973/2.html BAILII]</ref> a decision of the [[Privy Council]], Armstrong (defendant) sought to coerce Barton (plaintiff) into executing a deed relating to the sale of certain companies by threatening to have him murdered. While the plaintiff took the threats seriously, other business reasons existed for signing the contract. An innocent party wishing to set aside a contract for duress to the person need only prove that the threat was made and that it was a reason for entry into the contract. Furthermore, once it is established that the threat was made, the onus lies on the person who made the threat to prove that the threat made no contribution to the plaintiff's decision to enter the agreement.<ref>See ''Crescendo Management Pty Ltd v Westpac Banking Corp'' (1988) 19 NSWLR 40, 46.</ref> | ||