Description: Episode 2.3: Intentional Torts: Battery, Assault, Battery and False Imprisonment - Trespass to Person - Law of Torts, Law of Torts | Assault and Battery | Definition of Torts | Introduction of Torts | Law Lectures
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At common law , battery is the tort of intentionally (or, in Australia , negligently) and voluntarily bringing about an unconsented harmful or offensive contact with a person or to something closely associated with them (e.g. a hat, a purse). Unlike assault , battery involves an actual contact. The contact can be by one person (the tortfeasor ) of another (the victim), or the contact may be by an object brought about by the tortfeasor. For example, the intentional contact by a car is a battery.
Unlike criminal law , which recognizes degrees of various crimes involving physical contact, there is but a single tort of battery. Lightly flicking a person's ear is battery, as is severely beating someone with a tire iron. Neither is there a separate tort for a battery of a sexual nature. However, a jury hearing a battery case is free to assess higher damages for a battery in which the contact was particularly offensive or harmful.
Since it is practically impossible to avoid physical contact with others during everyday activities, everyone is presumed to consent to a certain amount of physical contact with others, such as when one person unavoidably brushes or bumps against another in a crowded lift, passage or stairway. However, physical contact may not be deemed as consented to if the acts that cause harm are prohibited acts.