Necessity and duress (compulsion) are different defenses in a criminal case.Handbook on Criminal Law 381 (1972)Criminal Law - Cases and Materials, 7th ed. 2012, Wolters Kluwer Law & Business; John Kaplan, Robert Weisberg, Guyora Binder, , People v. Unger, 362 N.E.2d 319 (1977) The defense of duress applies when another person threatens imminent harm if defendant did not act to commit the crime. The defense of necessity applies when defendant is forced by natural circumstances to choose between two evils, and the criminal act is the lesser evil.
By legal tradition
United States
United Kingdom
Saudi Arabia Saudi law regards contracts entered into without willing consent to be invalid, regarding both coercion and economic duress as causes for invalidity.
Ancient Rome
Jewish law
Jewish law does not accept duress a defense for the crime of murder, as the Talmud states (on Pesachim 25b, Yoma 82b, and Sanhedrin 74a): Someone came before Rava and said, "The governor of the city ordered me to slay a certain man, and threatened to kill me if I did not". Rava said to him, "Rather than slay another person, you must permit yourself to be slain, for how do you know that your blood is redder than his; perhaps his blood is redder than yours?"
Islamic law
Notes
References