Duress and False Imprisonment: The Constituent Elements of the Threat

摘要

The defendant had been convicted of cultivating cannabis and possessing criminal property. It was contended, however, that the trial judge had misdirected the jury on the constituent elements of the defence of duress; he should have directed them that the operative threat to the individual could be one of unjustified imprisonment as well as death and serious injury. The argument presented was to the effect that it was logical to include the threat of false imprisonment, but arbitrary and anomalous to exclude it; the true cut-off was between threats to the person and threats to property.