Also known as: batteries · assault and battery
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An intentional tort or crime consisting of an act that causes harmful or offensive contact with the person of another. The contact must result directly or indirectly from the actor's voluntary movement. Liability attaches even when the actor intends only an offensive contact or acts upon a mistaken belief about the resulting harm.
Belinda Baxter struck Brooke Bryant across the face with a closed fist during an argument at a family gathering, breaking Bryant's nose. Bryant immediately retrieved a knife from the kitchen and fatally stabbed Baxter before any cooling period elapsed. The serious battery inflicted on Bryant supplied adequate provocation that reduced the killing from murder to voluntary manslaughter.
Barbara Bennett deliberately extended her arm and shoved Bradley Banks off a slow-moving forklift on a construction site even though a clear gap in the fencing allowed easy retreat. The shove produced a harmful contact that injured Banks. Bennett is subject to liability for battery because she acted with intent to cause the contact and the contact resulted.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Bobby Brady lightly tapped Bei Bai on the shoulder while passing in a crowded hallway. Bai, still angry over an unrelated slight from the previous week, turned and struck Brady with a heavy object. The earlier trivial battery supplied no legally adequate provocation and therefore did not reduce Bai's subsequent killing of Brady to voluntary manslaughter.
Beacon Bank employee Brooke Bryant deliberately pushed a filing cabinet that toppled onto Barbara Bennett, causing harmful contact and injury. The contact resulted from Bryant's own act of pushing the cabinet. Bryant is therefore liable for battery because the harmful bodily contact was caused by an act done by the person whose liability is in question.
Boreal Energy worker Bradley Banks suffered a serious battery when a coworker struck him with a wrench during a workplace dispute. Banks immediately responded by killing the coworker in the ensuing struggle. Courts recognize the serious battery as adequate provocation that can reduce the killing from murder to manslaughter when the other elements of heat of passion are also satisfied.
Baxter Dynamics supervisor Belinda Baxter intentionally flicked a lit cigarette at Bei Bai's clothing during an argument, causing the cigarette to land on Bai and produce an offensive contact. Although Baxter did not intend to cause physical harm, the intentional offensive contact renders Baxter liable for battery.
The actor must intend to cause a harmful or offensive contact or an imminent apprehension of such contact. Liability follows even if the actor intends only an offensive contact and does not desire the resulting bodily harm.
No. At common law mere words and trivial battery are legally inadequate provocation and do not reduce murder to voluntary manslaughter.
No. The actor is liable if the harmful bodily contact is caused by an act done by the person whose liability is in question, including indirect causation such as setting an object in motion.
Yes. At common law a serious battery inflicted on the defendant or a close relative qualifies as adequate provocation that can reduce an intentional killing from murder to voluntary manslaughter when the other elements of heat of passion are met.
…must be understood. That right presupposes no abandonment of the desire for life. Nor is it reducible to a protection against batteries undertaken in the name of treatment, or to a guarantee against the infliction of bodily discomfort. Choices about death touch the core of liberty. Our duty, and the concomitant freedom, to…