honey (04/04/83)
From: allegra!honey To: cca!dee net.politics net.taxes Date: Sun Apr 3 19:50:21 1983 EST Payment of taxes is under duress, eh? Hmmm, let's just open the old Black's Legal Dictionary (4th Deluxe Edition) and look it up ... chosen ... dominion ... edicts ... dummy ... duress -- there we go! DURESS, n. Unlawful constraint exercised upon a man whereby he is forced to do some act that he otherwise would not have done ... [here going on at boring length to describe types of force, citing obscure cases by the armload]. Duress consists in [sic] any illegal imprisonment, or legal imprisonment used for an illegal purpose, or threats of bodily or other harm, or other means amounting to or tending to coerce the will of another, and actually inducing ... [blah blah, followed by etc.] ... and it is never "duress" to threaten to do that which a party has a legal right to do ... [ditto] such as instituting or threatening to institute civil actions. Let me know what you decide. Peter Honeyman
soreff (04/04/83)
In response to Peter Honeyman's note on the definition of duress as an *illegal* use of force: If a taxpayer residing in a nation which is (ooops, restart) If a taxpayer resides in a nation which is starting an agressive war, then that nation is in violation of international law, so such sactions (omit last word) actions as the nation takes to pursue its military adventure are probably illegal, including whatever coercion it applies to force taxpayers to finance it military. Thus, from the point of view of international law, the taxpayer may well be acting under duress. -Jeffrey Soreff (hplabs!phlabsb!soreff)
nrh (04/06/83)
#R:allegra:-114600:inmet:7800002:000:759 inmet!nrh Apr 4 15:07:00 1983 Oh my gosh! Let's look it up in a dictionary someone might use for a dialogue on the net ("conversational english"), rather than try to get the "law dictionary" meaning: Checking into Webster's New World Dictionary, Second College Edition..... du-ress .... 1. imprisonment 2 the use of force or threats; compulsion [a confession signed under duress] Amazing! No mention whatever of the legality of the force imposed. Perhaps to quash further idiot nit-picking of this sort, (and by this I include both the article that sparked this, quoting a law dictionary and this article up to and including the line beginning "Amazing!") we should all agree on a SINGLE dictionary How about the American Heritage? I've been itching for a excuse to buy one....