Necessity: Duress of Circumstances or Moral Involuntariness?

Abstract

While the Canadian Supreme Court has accepted necessity as an excuse on the basis of moral involuntariness, English and Welsh courts have adopted a different route by incorporating excusatory necessity into duress of circumstances. The objective element of this defence prevents the defendant's characteristics from being taken into account, and assumes a level of courage. In a defence where the fear emotion is the prevalent feature, this paper questions whether judges in England and Wales have taken the wrong path by implementing a necessity defence as a form of duress.