THE THREAT OF MURDER OR SERIOUS BODILY INJURY IN ENGLISH LAW

Abstract

Duress in English law is treated as general defense along with the necessity and self-defense. A common feature of these institutes mentioned above is a necessity. There are several theories about the legal nature of duress, but the prevalent is the one based on exclusion of perpetrator’s guilt i.e. punishment. The second part refers to conditions whose fulfillment is necessary in order to court allow the duress in an individual case. In this regard, taken the view that duress should be the excuse for the most serious crimes (murder and attempted murder), although this view was not supported by practice.