History Main / LeonineContract

* In ''PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', Kyubey offers Mami the chance to MakeAWish, which he will grant in exchange for her becoming a MagicalGirl. [[spoiler:He makes her this offer while she happens to be dying from critical injuries sustained in a car wreck that occurred just moments before]].

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* ''GirlGenius'' with its European Overlord. At least, Klaus was ''reasonable'' in his [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030101 demands]].

** The IMF's policies are intended in principle to duplicate reforms that in the past allowed certain countries (read: current major contributors) to develop strong economies. The reason many countries resist is that said development was often also accompanied by massive hardship and would result in them having to embrace a foreign system.

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* Agreements to receive unemployment payments such as Jobseekers Allowance in the UK. A 'Jobseeker' has to sign a list of commitments to look for types of work and available hours which may not be physically possible for them. However, not signing means no money, which means no food and shelter, which means eventual death, or at least hospitalisation for malnutrition or depression.
** In fairness, there exists a dedicated system that evaluates how much a Jobseeker can realistically apply for and do. If someone is unable to work because they are an addict etc, then ultimately that is their decision (especially given that treatment is free and can be accessed at any time).

* In RobertEHoward's "Literature/TheScarletCitadel," one of Tsotha's slaves taunts ConanTheBarbarian with the keys when he's prisoner, to ask what he would pay, as if to offer this. Finally he reveals that Conan killed his brother during his pirate days, when he was known as Amra, and that he will settle for nothing less than Conan's life.

AliceAndBob are making a bargain, but Alice has something Bob ''must'' have -- it's a MatterOfLifeAndDeath -- which means she has a free hand. Odds are good that Bob will regret it, even it's the condition of TakeMyHand, and not a DealWithTheDevil, even though Alice will not do anything violent, or even against him, without an agreement. The lack of any active threat makes it a favorite of the ManipulativeBastard.

-->--'''GKChesterton''', "The Unmentionable Man"

Even IncorruptiblePurePureness characters may hold ThePromise void if it was part of this. Everyone is prone to insist on ExactWords. If the contract is ''magical'', that's even worse, it's a MagicallyBindingContract.

* In GKChesterton's "[[http://wikilivres.info/wiki/The_Paradoxes_of_Mr._Pond/Chapter_V The Unmentionable Man]]", in ''The Paradoxes of Mr. Pond'', this is alluded to -- see page quote -- and this is a clue to the man's identity.

** In fairness, there exists a dedicated system that evaluates how much a Jobseeker can realistically apply for and do. If someone is unable to work because they are an addict etc, then ultimately that is their decision (especially given that treatment is free and can be accessed at any time).

--> '''Dr. Beetle''': A pledge made under duress is ''worthless'', Wulfenbach! You threatened my city, my university -- I'd have agreed to ''anything!'' ''You'' were in control then!
--> '''Baron''': And ''now?'' (while his [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots clanks]] point at Dr. Beetle with machineguns [[{{BFG}} about the size of himself]])

--> '''Dr. Beetle''': A pledge made under duress is ''worthless'', Wulfenbach! You threatened my city, my university -- ''You'' were in control then!

--> '''Dr. Beetle''': A pledge made under duress is ''worthless'', Wulfenbach! [...] ''You'' were in control then!

* In RobertEHoward's "The Scarlet Citadel," one of Tsotha's slaves taunts ConanTheBarbarian with the keys when he's prisoner, to ask what he would pay, as if to offer this. Finally he reveals that Conan killed his brother during his pirate days, when he was known as Amra, and that he will settle for nothing less than Conan's life.

->''"I should not agree with your young friends," said Marcus curtly, "[[GoodIsOldFashioned I am so old-fashioned as to believe in free contract]]."''
->''"I, being older, perhaps believe in it even more," answered M. Louis smiling. "But surely it is a very old principle of law that [[TropeNamer a leonine contract]] is not a free contract. And it is {{hypocrisy}} to pretend that a bargain between a starving man and a man with all the food is anything but a leonine contract." He glanced up at the fire-escape, a ladder leading up to the balcony of a very high attic above. "I live in that garret; or rather on that balcony. If I fell off the balcony and hung on a spike, so far from the steps that somebody with a ladder could offer to rescue me if I gave him a hundred million francs, I should be quite morally justified in using his ladder and then telling him to go to hell for his hundred million. {{Hell}}, indeed, is not out of the picture; for it is a sin of injustice to force an advantage against the desperate." ''

Even IncorruptiblePurePureness characters may hold ThePromise void if it was part of this. Everyone is prone to insist on ExactWords. If the contract is ''magical'', that's even worse, its a MagicallyBindingContract.

* The subject of several Supreme Court cases; offhand I seem to recall one involving laundry workers in New Orleans. Sometimes used as an argument against a totally Libertarian government.
** This kind of contract would likely be considered duress and thus void.
*** Which is the entire point of the page quote.

* In JohnCWright's ''The Phoenix Exultant'', Ironjoy is in this position toward the Afloats; they can't even afford to report his crimes against them because they need him. He assumes that Phaethon needs him, too, which is unwise on his part.

** This kind of contract would likely be considered duress and thus void.

Even IncorruptiblePurePureness characters may hold ThePromise void if it was part of this. Everyone is prone to insist on ExactWords.

* {{Rumpelstiltskin}} and [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/rumpelstiltskin/other.html its variants]]: the girl will be killed if she doesn't get his help, which gives her no way to haggle when he demands her child.