Legal Definitions - coercion

Definition: Coercion is when someone uses physical force or threats to make someone else do something they don't want to do. It can also refer to the improper use of economic power to force someone to do something.

Example: If someone threatens to hurt you if you don't give them your money, that is coercion. It is also coercion if a boss threatens to fire an employee if they don't work overtime without pay.

Coercion can also refer to a historical practice where husbands had control over their wives' actions. If a wife committed a crime in her husband's presence, she was presumed to have been coerced by him. This practice has been abolished.

Related terms: Criminal coercion, implied coercion, moral coercion, economic coercion, doctrine of coercion.