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Assault and Battery are very common violations that mostly lead to personal
injury cases. The definitions of these violations are different but still
are present in all the law traditions. So while being in a foreign country
it is better to know the local definition of these offences to avoid them.
As for assault in the common law tradition, it is the tort of acting
intentionally and voluntarily causing the reasonable apprehension of an
immediate harmful or offensive contact. Assault as a tort requires intent,
so it is an intentional tort, as opposed to a tort of negligence. Also
assault can happen even if the assaulting individual has no actual ability
to carry out the apprehended contact. This is useful for cases when someone
threats a person with a toy gun for example. Battery in common law tradition
is the tort of intentionally, or in some lands negligently, and voluntarily
bringing about an unconsented harmful or offensive contact with a person or
to something closely associated with them for example a hat of a purse. The
difference from assault is that battery involves an actual contact. Actual
contact in this case can occur not only between two people, but also between
an object or item used by the person that commits battery. For example
intentionally hitting a person while driving a car, or throwing a stone at
someone can be classified as battery.
In Canada like in the United States there are many ways in which an assault
can actually occur. This helps to regulate various situations in which
criminals try to avoid punishment by assaulting people by non standard
means. Originally assault means that a person directly or indirectly applies
force intentionally to another person, but assault can also occur when a
person attempts to assault another or threatens to do so without the consent
of the other person. An assault not necessary means that the assaulted
person was injured. The main thing defining assault is that the used force
must be offensive in nature with an intention to apply force. In some cases
even taps or pushes are considered to be an assault, still an accidental
application of force is not an assault.
Assault is defined in section 265 of the Canadian Criminal Code. The
sections from 266 to 272 define various types of assault like: Assault with
a weapon (266), Assault causing bodily harm (267), Assaulting a peace
officer (268), Sexual assault (270), Sexual assault with a weapon or threats
or causing bodily harm (271), Aggravated sexual assault (272).
Usually a person is charged with Assault and Battery if he or she
participated in a fight. Getting into a fight for an adult is not a very
common thing mostly fights occur between kids, and because kids usually
don't think about the consequences fights can lead to serious legal problems
not just for the participants, but also for their parents. In this case the
minor will be judged basing on the Youth Criminal Justice Act. |
