duress Flashcards
when may a party plea duress
A party to a contract may plea duress if he or she feels they were unduly pressurised into agreeing to it or to amending its terms.
what is the definition of duress
Duress is defined as Illegitimate pressure brought to bear on one of the parties with the result that the latter has no reasonable alternative but to enter into the contract.
what are the facts of the case Barton v Armstrong ?
The case of Barton v Armstrong is the locus classicus here. B and A are shareholders of a company
B claims A made threats, including threats of murder against barton and his family amounting to duress before contract was made.
B was in genuine fear that A was planning to have him killed and hired a hitman to carry out the deed .
B wanted contract void as signed under physical threats. The courts Held that threats were unlawful and socially unacceptable and the Contract was voided.
Barton v Armstrong illustrates that threats made against a party will vindicate his consent
what does the case of Brown v Pierce suggest ?
Words are also enough to generate this defence. This point is put eloquently in the Us case of Brown v Pierce . This case also suggests that threats directed against a third party, such as family member may be sufficient
what did the case of barton v Armstrong suggest ?
Barton v Armstrong suggested that duress renders a contract void ab inito.
historically when did duress arise ?
Historically duress only arose where there was a threat to “life, limb or liberty’, that is a threat to kill , maim or unlawfully incarcerate a person.
what citation was given by Kerr j
Kerr J in The Siboen and the Sibotre cited a threat to burn down another’s house or to slash his painting as an example of duress to goods.
what distinction did denam cj draw
In Skate v Beale Denman Cj drew a distinction between duress to the person and duress to goods . He held that in duress against the person there was a compulsory agreement to enter into, whereas duress against goods like in Skate the agreement was entered into voluntarily.
what are the facts of the case Maskell v Horner
Toll money was taken from the plaintiff under a threat to close down his market stall and to seize his goods if he did not pay. These tolls were, in fact, demanded from him with no right in law.
The Court of Appeal allowed the plaintiff to recover all the toll money paid, even though the payments had been made over a considerable period of time.
Lord Reading CJ stated that if a person pays money, which he is not bound to pay, under a compulsion of urgent and pressing necessity or of seizure, he can recover it as money had and received under the law of restitution.
when has economic duress often been the plea ?
This has often been the plea where the price originally agreed from the outset of the contract has been increased by the other party. That other party may increase the price for legitimate reasons such as notable differences in exchange rate, raw material price fluctuation or even just simple human error.
what are the facts of the case Atlas Express Ltd v Kafco
Both parties agreed to a contract where the defendant’s merchandise of basketware would be delivered by the plaintiff’s haulage company to Woolworths branches.
The price agreed was based on the plaintiff’s assessment of what each load could carry. In fact, a miscalculation meant that original evaluation of what each load could carry was inaccurate and the plaintiff wanted more money for the extra loads they would have to bear.
The defendant felt they had no option but to agree to the new price as they were fearful they would not get anyone else to distribute their goods, consequently jeopardising their contract with Woolworths, which it was seriously dependent on.
The lack of new consideration in this contract (as the plaintiff was already obliged to deliver the basketware under the terms of the original contract) meant that Tucker J ruled in favour of the defendant under economic duress regardless of the innocent mistake made when estimating the load. There were no reasonable alternatives that the defendant could have availed of and pursued duress in a law court.
what are the facts of the case of North Ocean Shipping Co. Ltd v Hyundai Construction Co. Ltd (The Atlantic Baron).
Here, payment for building a ship for the plaintiff was to be received by way of instalments. Due to the devaluation of the dollar, the defendants demanded an increase in the agreed price. The plaintiff reluctantly agreed and the credit letter was subsequently increased. The Shipping Company later sued for the extra monies paid but was unsuccessful
It was in the Shipping Company’s best interests to agree to the increase in price even with the realisation of the duress forced upon them.
what did stone describe ?
The remedy that the victim of duress will be seeking is to escape from the agreement that has resulted from duress – in other words rescission’.
