17 Me. 338 | Me. | 1840
The opinion of the Court was by
The plaintiff having a claim upon the principal defendant, for an injury cfeoe to his person, the parties agreed to refer the matter to the arbitration of others, upon whose award, subsequently partially modified by mutual consent, the note in question was given. This constituted a sufficient consideration ; and the plaintiff is entitled to recover, unless the defence of duress, set up by the defendants, has been sustained. The burden of proof is upon them.
The plaintiff had made a complaint against the principal defendant, and had procured a warrant for his arrest, to answer to
The prosecution of the warrant, and the arrest as incident to it, was a lawful course of proceeding. The threat, therefore, of such an arrest, and the fact that the defendant was induced by it to give the note, did not constitute duress, as it would have done, if he had acted from the fear of unlawful imprisonment. Whitefield v. Longfellow & als. 13 Maine R. 146. In our judgment, therefore, the defence of duress, which is submitted to the determination of the Court, has not been made-out. The exceptions are accordingly sustained; and the plaintiff is entitled to judgment on the report.