What are the parameters of verbal and physical duress?

Coercion, whether verbal or physical, has two forms: The first is when the coercion is by word or deed from the coercer (the one doing the coercing), such as threatening to kill or severely beat, or seizing one's property. The correct view is that a threat from one capable of carrying it out constitutes coercion. The second is when the coercion is upon a word or deed, meaning that the source of the word or deed is the coerced (the one being coerced). Scholars have differed on whether verbal and physical acts are treated equally under coercion. The majority of scholars hold that the coerced is permitted to undertake that which he was coerced into, whether by word or deed, except in the case of killing. Some, however, differentiated between the two, citing the Hadith of Ibn Mas'ud, but their argument was refuted by stating that the verbal example might have been intended to represent an action.