“So cautiously does the law watch over all contracts, that it will not permit any to be binding but such as are made by persons perfectly free, and at full liberty to make or refuse such contracts. . . . Contracts to be binding must not be made under any restraint or fear of their persons, otherwise they are void.”
– The South Carolina Supreme Court, 1799, in a ruling used by the Institute For Justice in its amicus brief in the Obamacare lawsuit. George Will mentioned the language in a column over the weekend noting that Obamacare does violence to centuries of contract law by forcing parties to enter into contracts for heath insurance.
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