DE · jury_instructions
Del. P.J.I. Civ. § 19.9
Contract Defenses – Intoxicated Person
INTOXICATION - MENTAL INCAPACITY
If a party is intoxicated by alcohol or drugs when a contract is formed, that party
may void the contract if [his/her] mental capacity was so impaired that [he/she] was
unable to understand and act rationally in the particular transaction. Merely being
under the influence of intoxicating alcohol or drugs is not enough reason to void a
contract. Similarly, ignorance about the nature of the contract is not enough. To
void the contract, the intoxicated party must be so mentally impaired as to be
incapable of understanding the subject and nature of the contract’s terms at the time
the agreement was made.
You must determine in light of the evidence whether [plaintiff’s name] was
mentally incapable of comprehending the contract to [briefly describe terms of
contract] with [defendant’s name] when the contract was formed.
Provenance
- Source
- courts.delaware.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-23
- Edition
- civ-2025-10-22
- Content hash
65e9b0617182d7a5176181b480142019d6fae77824b1da53cd14344ceb522b3b
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