ABSTRACT
However, blackmail is not merely any combination of a threat and a demand: the threat and the demand must be related in a particular way. Blackmail is a demand backed by a threat. The threat is made in order to make sure that the demand is met. If the threat is made for some other reason, then this is not a case of blackmail, as the following example makes clear. Suppose Arthur notices his friend Barbara shoplifting. He is short of money and so approaches her and asks her for some cash. He then tells her he is going to report her. Barbara thinks she is being blackmailed, and that if she gives him the money he will keep quiet. But Arthur will report her even if she pays up, and he tells her this (and means it). In this example Arthur certainly isn’t blackmailing Barbara, despite the fact that he is making a threat and is asking for money.
