ther life or member, is looked upon as
done upon the highest necessity and compulsion. Therefore if a man
through fear of death or mayhem is prevailed upon to execute a deed,
or do any other legal act; these, though accompanied with all other
the requisite solemnities, are totally void in law, if forced upon him
by a well-grounded apprehension of losing his life, or even his limbs,
in case of his non-compliance[t]. And the same is also a sufficient
excuse for the commission of many misdemesnors, as will appear in the
fourth book. The constraint a man is under in these circumstances is
called in law _duress_, from the Latin _durities_, of which there are
two sorts; duress of imprisonment, where a man actually loses his
liberty, of which we shall presently speak; and duress _per minas_,
where the hardship is only threatened and impending, which is that we
are now discoursing of. Duress _per minas_ is either for fear of loss
of life, or else for fear of mayhem, or loss of limb. And this fear
must be upon sufficient reason; "_non_," as Bracton expresses it,
"_suspicio cujuslibet vani et meticulosi hominis, sed talis qui possit
cadere in virum constantem; talis enim debet esse metus, qui in se
contineat vitae periculum, aut corporis cruciatum_[u]." A fear of
battery, or being beaten, though never so well grounded, is no duress;
neither is the fear of having one's house burnt, or one's goods taken
away and destroyed; because in these cases, should the threat be
performed, a man may have satisfaction by recovering equivalent
damages[w]: but no suitable atonement can be made for the loss of
life, or limb. And the indulgence shewn to a man under this, the
principal, sort of duress, the fear of losing his life or limbs,
agrees also with that maxim of the civil law; _ignoscitur ei qui
sanguinem suum qualiter qualiter redemptum voluit_[x].

[Footnote t: 2 Inst. 483.]

[Footnote u: _l._ 2. _c._ 5.]

[Footnote w: 2 Inst. 483.]

[Footnote x: _Ff._ 48. 21. 1.]

THE law not only regards life and member, and protects every man in
the enjoyment of them, but also furnishes him with every thing
necessary for their support. For there is no man so indigent or
wretched, but he may demand a supply sufficient for all the
necessities of life, from the more opulent part of the community, by
means of the several statutes enacted for the relief of the poor, of
which in their proper places. A humane provision; yet, though dictated
by the princ