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Coercion - Dictionary Definition and Overview |
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Coercion : (noun)
1: the act of compelling by force of authority
2: using force to cause something; "though pressed into rugby
under compulsion I began to enjoy the game"; "they didn`t
have to use coercion" [syn: compulsion]
Based on WordNet 2.0
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Coercion : \Co*er"cion\, n. [L. coercio, fr. coercere. See
Coerce.]
1. The act or process of coercing.
2. (Law) The application to another of either physical or
moral force. When the force is physical, and cannot be
resisted, then the act produced by it is a nullity, so far
as concerns the party coerced. When the force is moral,
then the act, though voidable, is imputable to the party
doing it, unless he be so paralyzed by terror as to act
convulsively. At the same time coercion is not negatived
by the fact of submission under force. ``Coactus volui''
(I consented under compulsion) is the condition of mind
which, when there is volition forced by coercion, annuls
the result of such coercion. --Wharton.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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COERCION, criminal law, contracts. Constraint; compulsion; force.
2. It is positive or presumed. 1. Positive or directCoercion : takes
place when a man is by physical force compelled to do an act contrary to his
will; for example, when a man falls into the hands of the enemies of his
country, and they compel him, by a just fear of death, to fight against it.
3.-2. It is presumed where a person is legally under subjection to
another, and is induced, in consequence of such subjection, to do an act
contrary to his win. A married woman, for example, is legally under the
subjection of her husband, and if in his company she commit a crime or
offence, not malum in se, (except the offence of keeping a bawdy-house, In
which case she is considered by the policy of the law as a principal, she is
presumed to act under this coercion.
4. As will (q.v.) is necessary to the commission of a crime, or the
making of a contract, a person coerced into either, has no will on the,
subject, and is not responsible. Vide Roscoe's Cr. Ev. 7 85, and the cases
there cited; 2 Stark. Ev. 705, as to what will, amount to coercion in
criminal cases.
Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:
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