Legal Definitions - de fine force

De fine force refers to an action or situation that occurs out of absolute and unavoidable necessity, meaning there was no other reasonable choice or alternative course of action. It implies an irresistible compulsion or an act that had to happen due to circumstances entirely beyond one's control.

Here are some examples illustrating this concept:

• Imagine a hiker lost in a remote wilderness during a sudden, severe snowstorm. To survive the night, they break into an unoccupied, isolated cabin to seek shelter from the life-threatening cold. In this scenario, the act of breaking and entering, which would normally be illegal, could be considered de fine force because it was done out of pure necessity to preserve life, with no other viable option available.

• Consider a situation where a city's water main unexpectedly bursts, flooding a critical electrical substation and threatening a widespread power outage. To prevent a catastrophic failure and restore power, emergency crews must immediately reroute water flow through private property, causing minor damage to a fence. The decision to damage the fence, while regrettable, was made de fine force to avert a much larger public crisis and was the only immediate solution.

• A ship captain, navigating through a sudden, unprecedented hurricane, is forced to jettison some non-essential cargo overboard to prevent the vessel from capsizing and sinking, which would endanger the lives of the crew and the remaining cargo. The act of discarding the cargo, despite contractual obligations to deliver it, was a measure taken de fine force – an unavoidable necessity to save the ship and its occupants from imminent destruction.