5.2 The Factors Affecting Free Consent

(i) Coercion Meaning: the physical-and-psychological compulsion — the threat to person, property or reputation (committing or threatening an act forbidden by law; the unlawful detention of property) inducing the assent. The modern extensions: duress to goods and economic duress (the illegitimate pressure's doctrine — the exploitation of commercial necessity, the threatened breach compelling the revised bargain). Consequences: voidable at the coerced party's option; the restitution following rescission (the benefits returned); the burden-and-proof questions (the coercion's demonstration — the threat's nature and effect judged at the assent's moment). Exceptions/qualifications: the lawful-pressure boundary (the threat of a civil suit is not coercion; the criminal-complaint threat's debate); the threat to litigate honestly vs. the abuse-of-process line; the coercion's timing (before or at the contract). (ii) Undue Influence Meaning: the relationship of confidence-and-domination (one party's position to dominate the other's will) + the unconscionable transaction (the bargain's unfairness): the doctor-patient, guru-disciple, trustee-beneficiary, parent-child, solicitor-client relations; the dominating bargaining positions of economic dependence. Presumption of undue influence (the doctrine's core): where the confidence relationship is shown, the burden shifts to the dominant party to prove the transaction's fairness (the consideration's adequacy, the independent advice) — the presumption's classes (the recognized relationships presumed; others requiring the domination's proof). Consequences: voidable at the oppressed party's option; the court's equity powers (the set-aside on terms). The Nepali practice's…