MS · jury_instructions
Proposed Mississippi Plain Language Model Jury Instructions - Civil 712
Contracts - Made Under Duress
Statement of Law
Duress occurs when one party did not act on [his/her/its] own free will in entering into the
contract. Duress also requires that the other party to the contract must have caused the
complaining party’s lack of free will. Duress does not occur when one party insists on a
condition, term, or legal right to be included in a contract, and the other party reluctantly agrees.
Duress is a defense to a breach of a contract claim. A contract entered into under duress is
not legally enforceable.
General Instruction
[Name of defendant] claims that [he/she/it] entered into the contract with [name of
plaintiff] under duress and that [he/she/it] is not legally responsible to [name of plaintiff] for any
alleged breach of the contract. To establish this claim, [name of defendant] must prove all of the
following are more likely true than not true:
1. At the time [name of defendant] and [name of plaintiff] entered into the alleged contract,
[name of defendant] was not acting on [his/her/its] own free will; and
2. [Name of plaintiff] caused [name of defendant]’s lack of free will by ____________________
[describe plaintiff’s alleged actions leading to duress].
Verdict Form
We answer the questions submitted to us as follows:
1. At the time [name of defendant] and [name of plaintiff] entered into the alleged contract, was
[name of defendant] acting on [his/her/its] own free will?
YES _______ NO ________
If your answer to question 1 is NO, then answer question 2. If you answered YES, stop
here and tell the bailiff.
2. Did [name of plaintiff] cause [name of defendant]’s lack of free will by
____________________ [describe plaintiff’s alleged actions leading to duress]?
YES _______ NO ________
If you answered YES to question 2 and NO to question 1, then you must find in favor of
[name of defendant] on [his/her/its] claim of duress.
After you have filled out the verdict form, please tell the bailiff that you have reached a verdict.
History
Proposed Mississippi Plain Language Model Jury Instructions - Civil 712 (current as of February 17, 2012). Submitted in 2012 by the Mississippi Model Jury Instructions Commission (created by the Supreme Court of Mississippi by order of December 30, 2008) and published by the Court on courts.ms.gov. The Court states that these model jury instructions have not been adopted or approved by the Supreme Court of Mississippi.
Provenance
- Source
- courts.ms.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-25
- Edition
- 2026-09-25
- Content hash
c8fba21b5fa797bbeb8a7deae3c7dbefdd78dd543ff3469aa64c9634e2372757
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