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Definition of a battery

A battery is a direct and unintentional physical contact with another person without lawful justification

Some contact is acceptable in everyday life:

  • Cole v Turner (1704): the judge in this case said that if two people brush past each other on a train that is acceptable contact
  • Collins v Wilcock [1984]: in this case, a police officer held the arm of a woman suspected of being a prostitute. Since he was not exercising his power of arrest he could not hold her as that went beyond what is acceptable physical contact to engage someone's attention

Consent to contact can preclude battery i.e. if you consent to what is about to happen to you then it might not be a battery e.g. when you play rugby

You can consent to medical treatment too...

Special case: consent to medical treatment

Consent to medical treatment can be refused, even if unreasonable i.e. you can refuse medical treatment even if stupid, such as in a circumstance where you could die

But, the refusal of medical treatment (by the patient) can be ignored where the doctors think that patient didn’t really mean to refuse the treatment e.g. where they are in pain and on medication so shouldn’t take the refusal at face value

Even without consent to the treatment, doctors can still intervene by invoking ‘best interests necessity’ → so this would be used in cases where the patient is incapable of giving consent e.g. they are unconscious

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CONTENT

The physical contact must be direct

In Scott v Shepherd, the defendant threw a lit squib into a market. The squib was thrown on several times, before exploding and injuring the claimant (causing him to lose the use of one eye). The court said that the physical contact was still direct, and the people in the middle (who threw the squib on) didn’t interfere with the directness

Directness in that there is no other significant voluntary act which intervenes.

Physical contact must be intended

In Letang v Cooper [1965] it was decided by a majority that battery must be intentional

An intentional act is a conscious and voluntary contact with the body of the claimant (Gibbons v Pepper (1695))

Other elements of a battery

Harm need not be intended by the defendant

  • I.e. Although the contact must be intended, the harm does not need not be intended
  • Thus, the tort is actionable per se → this means it is actionable without proof of any injury or damage to the claimant

There must be unlawful contact to the claimant e.g. in Collins v Wilcock [1984], the judge said the contact to the claimant must have been unacceptable in the ordinary affairs of life

Potential defences to a battery

Necessity: battery may be acceptable where it is necessary e.g. where there is a medical or other need to act (Re F (Mental Patient: Sterilisation) [1990])

Mental Capacity Act 2005: e.g. where a person does not have mental capacity to consent to medical treatment it may be possible to conduct treatment on them regardless

Self-defence: see, for example, the case of Ashley v Chief Constable of Sussex Police

  • One question that has been raised is whether or not self-defence can be pleaded when the defendant was mistaken about the physical threat facing him/her: Lord Scott said you can in this case, so long as you reasonably believe you are physically threatened
  • Any acts of self defence must be proportionate in nature: Lane v Holloway (1968)

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