ABSTRACT
Duress is a common law concept which originally meant actual violence or threats of violence. Originally, such pressure probably made a contract void. The concept of duress has since been extended to cover threats to property or business, in addition to violence or threats of violence to the person. Nowadays, the weight of opinion seems to be that duress makes the contract voidable: see, for example, Pao On v Lau Yiu Long (1980).
