Per minas, in English Common Law, is to engage in behaviour "by means of menaces or threats".[1]
The term comes from Latin.[2]
Per minas has been used as a defence of duress to certain crimes, as affecting the element of mens rea.[3][4] William Blackstone, the often-cited judge and legal scholar, addressed the use of "duress per minas" under the category of self-defense as a means of securing the "right of personal security", that is, the right of self-defence.[5]
The classic case involves a person who is blackmailed into robbing a bank.
In contract law, Blackstone used per minas to describe the defence of duress, as affecting the element of contract intent, mutual assent, or meeting of the minds.[6][7]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Clickdocs web site
- ^ List of Latin legal phrases.
- ^ Kilbrandon, Lord (1982). "Duressper minas as a defence to crime: I". Law and Philosophy. 1 (2): 185–195. doi:10.1007/BF00848283. S2CID 144718824.
- ^ Phillips, W. H. (2 August 1875). "A Consideration of What Amounts to Duress per Minas at Law". The American Law Register. 23 (4): 201–207. doi:10.2307/3304503. JSTOR 3304503.
- ^ [1] Archived 2019-02-24 at the Wayback Machine, citing Blackstone, (I)(2) (1765).
- ^ Law-dictionary-com, citing I Blackstone's Commentaries 131.
- ^ Online Law dictionary[permanent dead link], citing Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856).
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