Element 1: An Act

Question 1

What kind of act?

Answer 1

Must be a positive act, not an omission

Question 2

Innes v Whylie

Answer 2

Failing to get out of the way is an omission, not an act, and therefore people who bounce off D who is standing in a doorway can’t be a battery.

Question 3

Fagan v metropolitan police commissioner

Answer 3

D argued he did not commit a battery because when he drove onto c’s foot he had no intention, and his failure to remove the car of c’s foot was a mere omission. The court held that where you apply force unintentionally, it will be a battery if you fail to remove that force when you fail to remove that force intentionally. Therefore this was not an omission, but a continuing act.