Contract Law: Dures, Undue Influence, and Misrepresentation

A contract entered into under duress is deemed void from the outset.

Duress involves physical force or violence only.

A threatened party may not set aside the contract and claim restitution and damages.

In cases of duress, the threat must be unlawful and the effective cause of the contract.

In a contract entered into under undue influence, the parties are unaware of with whom and on what terms they are contracting.

A contract entered into under misrepresentation is deemed void from the outset.

Coercion operates on the mind of the victim by forcing him/her to choose between entering the contract or gaining a benefit.

The more reasonable the fear, the greater will be the reluctance of the court to accept that it actually induced the contract.

A threat must be directed at the life, bodily integrity, or property of a distant relative.

Silence is always indicative of free consent.

The threat of dismissal must be expressed in order to be considered duress.

The aggrieved person was influenced to agree to a transaction that was beneficial to them.

A threat must be possible but not necessarily imminent in order to be considered duress.

The onus is on the other party to prove that undue influence occurred.

The remedy of restitutio in integrum is only available to the guilty party.

The innocent party is entitled to set aside the legal consequences of the contract and restore the original position.

If the innocent party chooses to rescind the contract, they are not bound by its terms.

Only the guilty party is required to restore any performance made in terms of the contract.

There is a general duty on a party negotiating a contract to reveal information known to him that may influence the mind of the other party in deciding whether to contract or not.

If a party's conduct is wholly or partly responsible for the other party's ignorance, the omission is actionable.

A party has a duty to inform by operation of rule of law in all contracts.

A misrepresentation made by an independent 3rd party is actionable against the party to the contract.

A party has a duty to reveal information known to him that may influence the mind of the other party in deciding whether to contract or not, if the contract requires parties to work together in a relationship of trust and confidence.

A misrepresentation must be made by a party to the contract or its agent to be actionable.

An intentional misrepresentation is a representation of a true fact made with honest belief in its truth.

A negligent misrepresentation renders a contract void.

An innocent misrepresentation is a representation of a false fact made with the intention of persuading the other party to conclude the contract.

A contract induced by intentional misrepresentation is voidable.

A negligent misrepresentation is a representation of a false fact made fraudulently.

A contract induced by innocent misrepresentation can be enforced.