So I went to the Coney Island Creep Show at the Freak Show: it's a Halloween-oriented version of their freak show with a nifty tour and lots of spooky fun. Highly reccommended.

Anyway, the theme was "The Rent Is Killing Me," and focuses on the gentrification and McDonaldsization of Coney Island through spooky satire.

Part of the tour involved signing over your soul to the nefarious "Donald Stump." When they passed the clipboard around, i felt kind of oogy about the whole thing and quickly scribbled down my ex-roomate's initials.

Now I'm a steadfast agnostic with no fucking clue if there's a higher power or an afterlife or even such a thing as a soul! But did I just sell my soul to a fictional company? Will there be metaphysical ramifications?

Leagally speaking:
-I wrote someone else's initials
-I did NOT offer the chunk of flesh and syringe of blood clearly stipulated by the contract as part of the agreement
-No one will ever attempt to collect on this.

I feel like some kid who shouldn't have been playing with the Ouija board! Should I talk to a lawyer or a priest?!

sounds to me like you sold your ex-roomate's soul

Wha?

bad pot again?

If the whole establishment is clearly advertised as satirical, you have nothing to worry about. If it was even close to legit, they would have checked your initials against the rest of your info and denied access.

You're fine, though this may bring up a whole ramificiation of whether one individual's soul is worth buying/selling in the first place.

It's the intent -- the fact that you signed at all shows intent. You're doomed.

And you're not even one of the board lawyers. Wait 'til RParis74 and HaqDiesel see this.

Oh, and GrapeRipple. He's a lawyer, if I'm not mistaken.

This isn't law, this is religion. Satanic religion. All the rules are off.

Off course, he might appear, to "re-enforce" the contract. And just to see what it is you want.

ah well.
look on the bright side.....

look at what selling his soul did for robert johnson.

Good answer. Now Whiney has a career as a Carny to look forward to.

Dude, I would see Parts & Labor at the Lucas County fair.

He's right. Wolfram & Hart gonna be all up yo ass.

Your soul's here somewhere

Firstly, I didn't sign any deal with the devil. He wasn't even in the fine print.

Secondly, I'm guessing there's no metaphysical punishment for participating in an overwrought metaphor. Especially one that supports the arts AND is pro-cheap housing!

That's how they getcha. Damn old sneaky dark forces.

Fucking awesome.
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That's funny.

As far as your contract goes, it doesn't look like you received any legal consideration, so I think you're in the clear.

If I was the Prince of Darkness, you can bet your sweet bippy that I'd make sure that I had EXTRA-FINE FUCKING FINE PRINT.

Cause I'd be dark and shit.










Oh wait, I'm dark and shit NOW.

I just hope you're ready for the guitar duel with Steve Vai; that dude can shred.

It really depends under which jurisdiction Stump brings suit. There are several reasons to believe that under U.S. contract law this contract would be void.

Firstly, you have the argument that you signed under duress. What were the circumstances? If you were told that you either had to sign or couldn't leave, then the case for duress is strong. Going hand in hand with this argument is the question of consideration - what were you bargaining for in this deal? If it's clear that you were simply signing over your soul and getting nothing valuable in return, then your soul is a gift, and you have the right to revoke a gift at anytime, even if you've attempted to contract it away. If you were contracting for supernatural powers during your limited time earth, however, the absence of such powers would be evidence that Stump did not hold up his end and would probably release you from performance. If, on the other hand, you were simply contracting for your safe release, then again, your duress defense is strong.

Finally, there is a clear question of the baseline legality of the contract. US contract almost certainly prohibits contracting for human any amount of human flesh, and it is similarly unlikely that any court would uphold a contract for a human soul.

If Stump brings suit under any other jurisdiction, the laws may be different, but he's going to have to extradite you, and it's unlikely the US will allow that.

He'll have to leave the "country" eventually...

If i was the Prince of Darkness, I'd do whatever I please. Extradition, eternal damnation. What could you do? Nothing.

Cuz I'd be the Prince of muthafuckin DARKNESS.

Yeah but assuming the existence of the Devil, you probably need to assume the existence of God, whose powers are alleged to exceed the Devil's. The principles of US contract law mentioned above are just (as in justice) principles, and God is alleged to be just as well. Ergo, in an intergalactic court, similar principles may be assumed to apply.

I think duress will be a stretch, since Whiney did this as a lark, and from his encount, entirely voluntarily.

I think his defense relies on two things...in a strict contract sense, the consideration on his part is his roommates soul. Second, as I said before, there doesn't appear to be any consideration coming from the other party, hence no legal contract.

As far as the legality of the transaction, I'd be surprised if the cloven-hooved one can't point to predecedence somewhere.

The jurisdiction question is an interesting one, however. Devil v. Webster establishes local jurisdiction in the United States, no?

If duress doesn't apply because he considered the contract to be a lark, then the requisite intent is also missing (which is further buttressed by his failure to turn over the aforementioned flesh chunk), so the Devil's in a "damned if you do [argue against duress], damned if you don't" situation.

thread delivers.