Chapter 46- Assault, battery and false imprisonment

Question 1

Define Assault

Answer 1

This refers to an act of which causes another person to apprehend the infliction of immediate unlawful force on his person

Question 2

State the 2 elements of this tort

Answer 2

• The defendant MUST act
• The effect of the action must be a reasonable expectation of immediate physical violence
• Intention

Question 3

DEFENDANTS ACTIONS:

Answer 3

• This can include physical violence or threatining words
• The court should establish an assault and consider how the threat is conveyed and whether it is enough to place the claimant in reasonable fear of an immediate battery.
• The claimant does not have to admit that they were afraid, just that it was reasonable for them to expect that it was about to happen
• The threat of violdence must be capable of being carried out at the time that it was made.

Question 4

INTENTION:

Answer 4

Intention can mean either:
- The defendant has committed a voluntary action
- The defendant intended a consequence, for example, where there is no intention to hit anyone but behaving in a way knowing that someone may be hit.

Question 5

Define Battery

Answer 5

This refers to the actual infliction of unlawful force on another person.

Question 6

State the 3 elements of battery

Answer 6

• Force
• Direct application
• Hostility

Question 7

FORCE:

Answer 7

Any physical contact with a persons body or clothes can amount to force.
- There is no requirement for physical harm.
- For the force to become unlawful, the touching has to exceed what is regarded as ‘physical contact which is generally acceptable in the ordinary conduct of dailylife’

Question 8

DIRECT APPLICATION:

Answer 8

Battery only applies to force that is direct.

Question 9

RELEVANCE OF HOSTILITY:

Answer 9

“That touching must be proved to be a hostile touching”
- The courts have been criticised because the word ‘hostility’ has not been defined.
- However its also been argued that hostility should not be an element of battery but instead, ‘conduct that was not generally acceptable in the ordinary conduct of daily life.’
- But many belive that hostility is unlawful and that there has to have been a lack of consent from the claimant

Question 10

Define false imprisonment

Answer 10

An act that directly and intentionally places a total restraint on another persons freedom of movement without lawful jurisdiction.

Question 11

State the 2 elements of False imprisonment

Answer 11

• Intention
• Restraint

Question 12

INTENTION

False imprisonment

Answer 12

• The courts will investigate whether this element is necessary in proving false imprisonment.

Question 13

RESTRAINT :

Answer 13

Restraint can either be:
- Total
- Knowledge of it
- Lawful

TOTAL:
- The claimant must be totally restrained or imprisoned. It will not be considered false imprisonment if there is a reasonable means of escape
- For there to be this tort, the person must be confined within a physical boundary or even verbal threat

KNOWLEDGE:
- This element is debatable. Some say it is possible to be falsely imprisoned if they are unaware at the time of the detention. Some say there can’t be false imprisonment when they are unaware
- The court held that knowldge is not an essential element of this tort

LAWFUL:
- If the procedures set out by the law are followed, then the restraint is lawful.
- The PACE gives both the police and ordinary citizens the rights to arrest a person

Question 14

List the available defences

Answer 14

• Consent
• Self-defence
• Necessity