Harlan F. Stone

“ But a threat to break a contract does not in itself constitute duress. Before the coercive effect of the threatened action can be inferred, there must be evidence of some probable consequences of it to person or property for which the remedy afforded by the courts is inadequate. ”

“ Appellant urges that the later contract does not bar such recovery because the coercive measures resorted to by officers of the Ordinance Department, to induce its execution, amount in law to duress, rendering the second contract invalid and without force to modify the first. To support this position appellant relies on the serious consequences which the industry would have suffered if the government had wholly refused to perform its contracts. It asserts that 270,000 bales of linters already inspected by the government were in the hands of manufacturers ”

“ United States, 101 U.S. 465, 25 L. Ed. 987; Rosenfeld v. Boston Mut. Life Ins. Co., 110 N. E. 304, 222 Mass. 284; Hackley v. Headley, 8 N. W. 511, 45 Mich. 569; Goebel v. Linn, 11 N. W. 284, 47 Mich. 489, 41 Am. Rep. 723 ”