Assault + Battery Flashcards
Assault (actus reus)
any act by which one person causes another to apprehend immediate and non-consensual bodily contact
Assault (mens rea)
intending or foreseeing that V may apprehend immediate and non-consensual bodily contact
Battery (actus reus)
an act where one person makes (or causes) unlawful, non-consensual bodily contact with another
Battery (mens rea)
D must intend or be reckless as to the unlawful bodily contact
DPP v K [1990]
acid made contact - through objects can still be causal link so actus reus is satisfied
Fagan v Metropolitan Police Commissioner [1969]
battery is a continuing act
R v Martin (1881)
caused someone else to touch/collide with some other object is still battery because no novus actus
Faulkner v Talbot [1981]
babysitter had consensual sex with boy - battery because she wasn’t just passive, but boy’s choice is novus actus so no battery
DPP v Santana Bermudez [2003]
not novus actus because she wasn’t free or informed (he deliberately omitted information and so deliberately neglected a duty)
Collins v Wilcock [1984]
‘unlawful’ means everyday contacts are not batteries
unless V objects very strongly
R v Venna [1975]
have to intend or foresee that contact would happen
Haystead v Chief Constable of Derbyshire [2000]
transfered malice - causal link means mens rea can transfer and multiply
R v Spratt [1991]
subjective test for mens rea
reckless has its usual narrow meaning - effectively applies only to personal foresight
D had no reason to think there would be an 8 year old there so he was not reckless
he thus had no mens rea
R v Lamb [1967]
neither thought gun would fire; no time to apprehend; no assault
