what are the problems for duress?

Question

for the uk

Answer 1

Duress
1. compulsion by threat or force; coercion; constraint.
2. Law. such constraint or coercion as will render void a contract or other legal act entered or performed under its influence.
3. forcible restraint, esp. imprisonment.

Agreements made with this type of force used to acquire them is unacceptable within the law for (what should be) obvious reasons !!
To obtain an agreement from someone by threats or by force is not a meeting of the minds as much as something taken from someone !!

Answer 2

There is some ambiguity in authorities on this subject. With respect to duress, the Court of Appeal has suggested in R v. Martin (David) [2000] 2 Cr App R 42 that, where D's defence of duress is based on a mistake about the facts that gave rise to duress, the (objective) reasonableness of his response must be assessed on the basis that the facts were as D (subjectively) perceived them to be. There is a certain inconsistency between this case and existing settled authority to the effect that, in duress, D is entitled to rely on a mistake about the facts only if that mistake was reasonably made. It is the fact that the court has to look at what was apparently going on in the defendant's mind which makes this such a very problematic type of defence to run.

This should help, although written from a US point of view. http://wings.buffalo.edu/law/bclc/bclrarticles/6/2/westen.pdf
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:yw0Ag7yQpm8J:www.srcf.ucam.org/cslr/2006_1/Naylor.pdf+england+defence+of+duress&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=us

Answer 3

Duress is a form of extortion.

Answer 4

This term is usually used and written by doctors and therapists describing mental patients that are under great stress,anxity,or fears such as losing something important in their lives(i.e.family,home,money,ect.),so much to point, they start having thoughts of doing what they must to keep from losing these things or die trying to keep things or matters from building up against them by any means nessassary or justifiable in their minds.

Answer 5

Constraint by threat.