from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
COMPULSION. The forcible inducement to au act.
2. Compulsion may be lawful or unlawful. 1. When a man is compelled by
lawful authority to do that which be ought to do, that compulsion does not
affect the validity of the act; as for example, when a court of competent
jurisdiction compels a party to execute a deed, under the pain of attachment
for contempt, the grantor cannot object to it on the ground of compulsion.
2. But if the court compelled a party to do an act forbidden by law, or not
having jurisdiction over the parties or the subject-matter, the act done by
such compulsion would be void. Bowy. Mod. C. L. 305.
3. Compulsion is never presumed. Coercion. (q.v.)