Law Dictionary of Legal Terminology

CONSTRAINT

CONSTRAINT. In the civil and Scottish law, by this term is understood what, in the common law, is known by the name of duress.

2. It is a general rule, that when one is compelled into a contract, there is no effectual consent, thougb, ostensibly, there is the form of it. In such case the contract will be declared void.

3. The constraint requisite thus to annul a contract, must be a vis aut me us qui cadet in constantem virum, such as would shake a man of firmness and resolution. 3 Ersk. 1, 16; and 4, 1, 26; 1 Bell's Conn. B. 3, part 1, o. 1, s. 1, art. 1, page 295.