Private Law Theory

INTRODUCTION
The actions of Pakistan International Airline Corporation (PIAC) in forcing a small family-owned company to waive its rights to £1.2 million of validly earned commission have highlighted the difficulties that contract law faces when responding to inequality of bargaining power and exploitation. They have also thrown lawful act duress back into the judicial and academic spotlight. It is uncontroversial that a contract procured by violence or threats of violence is voidable for duress. It is also accepted that a contract can be voidable for economic duress, where there is an illegitimate threat, which causes the claimant to enter into the contract or contractual variation, and to which the claimant had no reasonable alternative but to succumb …

€ (Westlaw)

Iona Branford and Jodi Gardner, ‘Reconceiving wrongdoing in lawful act duress’ (2023) 139 Law Quarterly Review (Oct) 629-653.