Violence vitiates consent

The first paragraph in Article 1335 of the Civil Code provides:
ART. 1335. There is violence when in order to wrest consent, serious or irresistible force is employed.
Violence requires the employment of physical force. Under Article 1335, to make consent defective, the force employed must be either serious or irresistible. In either case, consent is not free.[1] It is essential that the force employed must be the determining cause or reason for giving consent.[2]

Violence is determined by the intention and the means employed. Physical force employed must be irresistible, or of such degree that victim has no other recourse under the circumstances but to submit. Such force is the determining cause in giving of consent. Moreover in Article 1336, violence or intimidation shall annul the obligation, although it may have been employed by a third person who did not take part in the contract.


[1] Report of the Code Commission, p. 136.

[2] De Leon. (2014). Obligations and Contracts.