Threat
A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States · John Bouvier · 1839
A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States
evidence, menace. When a confession is obtained from a person accused of crime, in consequence of a threat, evidence of such confession cannot be received, because, being obtained by the torture of fear, it comes in so questionable shape, that no credit ought to be given to it; 1 Leach, 263; this is general principle, but what amounts to a threat is not so easily defined. Vide Confession, and the ‘cases there cited.