Question

Principle: An agreement without free consent can be enforced only at the option of the party whose consent was not free.
Facts: A obtains the consent of B to enter into an agreement by putting a gun on the head of B’s girl friend.

• A. B can enforce the agreement.
• B. B cannot enforce the agreement.
• C. A can enforce the agreement.
• D. Neither A nor B can enforce the agreement.

Hint:

In cases of duress, only the party whose consent was obtained under threat has the option to enforce the agreement.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

According to the principle, an agreement without free consent is not enforceable unless the party whose consent was coerced decides to enforce it. In this case, A obtained B’s consent by putting a gun to the head of B’s girlfriend, which means that B’s consent was obtained under duress and was not free. However, since B’s consent was coerced, it is up to B to decide if the agreement should be enforced.
Option (A) is correct because it is B’s decision whether to enforce the agreement, even though it was obtained by force. Option (B) is incorrect because B has the option to enforce it. Option (C) is incorrect because A has no right to enforce a contract obtained through duress. Option (D) is incorrect because B can still enforce the agreement if desired.

Answer 2

This question is about coercion and who gets to decide whether a coerced agreement is enforced. Let's go through each option.

1. B can enforce the agreement: The principle gives the choice to enforce a consent-defective agreement solely to the party whose consent was not free. Here, B's consent was extracted through a threat to his girlfriend, so B is the party whose free will was compromised. The principle vests the option to affirm or reject the agreement in B, and B may choose to hold A to it if he wishes.
2. B cannot enforce the agreement: This would strip B of the very choice the principle grants him. The principle does not void the agreement outright; it merely makes enforcement conditional on the coerced party's election, and that party is B, not A.
3. A can enforce the agreement: A is the person who used the threat to obtain consent, not the person whose consent was compromised. The principle only empowers the party whose consent was not free, so A, being the wrongdoer, has no such option under this rule.
4. Neither A nor B can enforce the agreement: This overlooks that the principle deliberately preserves an enforcement option for one side. It doesn't declare the agreement wholly dead; it makes it voidable at B's discretion, so B retains an avenue to enforce it.

Since B is the party whose consent was obtained through coercion, the principle places the decision to enforce squarely in B's hands.

Therefore, the correct answer is B can enforce the agreement.

Answer 3

The principle turns on two distinct elements: first, identifying which party's consent was not free, and second, confirming that the power to enforce belongs exclusively to that one party. Applying these two elements to each option.

1. B can enforce the agreement: Element one, whose consent was compromised, points to B, since the threat was directed at his girlfriend to extract his agreement. Element two, the enforcement option, is reserved for that same party under the principle, so it is B, not A, who holds the choice to enforce, and B may exercise it.
2. B cannot enforce the agreement: This would only be correct if element two attached the enforcement power to someone other than the coerced party, but the principle specifically gives that power to the party whose consent was not free, which is B himself.
3. A can enforce the agreement: Running element one again, A is the party who applied the coercion, not the party whose consent was defective. Since the principle grants the enforcement option only to the coerced party, and A fails that identification test, A cannot hold this option.
4. Neither A nor B can enforce the agreement: This option effectively deletes element two altogether, treating the agreement as unenforceable by anyone. But the principle does not extinguish the agreement, it conditions enforcement on one specific party's election, so an enforcement route does remain open through B.

Working through both elements, whose consent was compromised and who therefore holds the enforcement option, points consistently to B.

Therefore, the correct answer is B can enforce the agreement.