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§ 54. Assault and battery in general.-For corporal injuries less than the taking of human life, the law gives redress to the person injured. When the injury is direct and intentional, it is called an assault and battery. It is not essential, in order to constitute a wrong, that the wrongdoer shall have fully carried out his intention, nor that any actual damage shall result. An attempted injury may be an assault, and, though there be no damage actually suffered, the law presumes that there was some damage.

An assault is an attempt with unlawful force to inflict bodily injury upon another, accompanied with real or apparent ability to give effect to the attempt, if not prevented.

§ 55. The ability and intent to injure.-In a civil suit for assault, if the defendant had apparent present ability and intent to injure, he is liable, regardless of whether the plaintiff believed there was such ability and intent. And even though the defendant did not have actual present ability, or did not have an intent to injure, he is nevertheless liable, if his conduct was such as reasonably created in plaintiff the belief that such ability

and intent existed. However threatening an act would otherwise appear to be, it is not an assault, if from the words or conduct accompanying the act it is apparent that no injury will be done. Mere words or threats do not of themselves constitute an assault.

§ 56. Battery defined.-Battery is any touching of another person with intent to injure or in an angry, revengeful, rude, insolent or hostile manner, and without his lawful consent.

§ 57. The intent of the wrongdoer.-For civil liability, it is not essential that there shall have been an actual intent to injure the plaintiff. It is sufficient if the act itself was unlawful or if it was intended to injure some person and unintentionally injured the plaintiff. The essence of the offense is that the defendant shall have been intentionally guilty of a wrong, and that plaintiff's person shall have been unlawfully touched.

§ 58. Consent of the one injured.-If the plaintiff consented to the defendant's act, the defendant is not liable for assault and battery, unless: (1) The act be a breach of the peace. (2) The plaintiff be legally incapable of giving consent. (3) The consent be obtained by fraud. (4) Force be used in excess of the consent.

§ 59. Justification for battery. In time of war, or under martial law, acts that would be justifiable though they result in taking life, will of course be justifiable if they result in any less degree of injury.

Upon motives of public policy, wherever the law can not be otherwise adequately enforced, it is justifiable to use so much force as is necessary. An officer with authority to arrest may therefore use reasonable force to

effect the arrest. For like reason any one, officer or private individual, under certain conditions, may use reasonable force to prevent a breach of the peace, or, after a felony has been committed, to apprehend the felon.

For purposes of correction and punishment a reasonable degree of chastisement is justifiable by a parent upon his child, by a teacher upon the pupil, by a jailer upon his prisoner, and by a shipmaster upon his crew, and under some circumstances upon his passenger. An act that would otherwise be assault and battery may be justifiable where it is necessarily done for the purpose of saving the life, either of the person injured or of another.

Whenever the force used upon a justifiable occasion is of a degree that is unreasonable or excessive it becomes itself a wrong, and the person so using excessive force becomes liable for the excess, and in some states also loses the right to complain of the violence against him.

§ 60. Self-defense.-Any one may lawfully use force to protect himself against the unlawful force of others. But only so much force is justifiable as is reasonably necessary for protection. The degree of force that may be lawfully used by way of self-defense varies with the nature of the attack. If the person attacked has the belief upon reasonable grounds that his life is in danger, or that he will receive great bodily harm, he will be excused, though he kill his adversary. But out of regard for human life, the law does not permit one to kill his assailant unless there be such belief upon reasonable grounds. One is bound to retreat, if possible, and to confine his defense within reasonable limits. So, one attacked by another with his fists, can not ordinarily justify the killing of his assailant at once with a knife or other deadly weapon. The law does not, however,

require one to retreat when in his own house. His house is said to be his castle, and he may stand, repelling any force with force, even though it becomes necessary to take the life of the assailant to repel the assault. Provocation by mere words is never an assault, and therefore will never excuse the use of force in retaliation.

The right of self-defense includes the right of one to protect persons standing in the following relations, husband and wife, parent or person in loco parentis and child, members of the same family and master and servant. The right of self-defense also exists in favor of one for the protection of his possessions and the possessions of those holding the above relations toward him. In order that a person may avail himself of the plea of self-defense, it is generally necessary that he shall have been free from fault in provoking the attack, for the law will not permit the right of self-defense to be used as a cloak for wrongdoing.

§ 61. The remedies.-The civil remedy for assault, or for assault and battery, is an action for damages. The injured person is entitled to recover damages for all the natural results of the injury that have been or probably will be suffered. Both mental and physical suffering, or impairment of faculties, the sense of shame and humiliation, the loss of social respect, and actual and direct pecuniary loss, are elements to be considered in assessing the damages. Where the offense is done with malice, or with deliberate intent to injure, exemplary or punitive damages may be recovered, unless the act is also punishable criminally, in which case such damages can not be recovered in a civil action.

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§ 62. Definition. It is every one's right to enjoy the freedom of his person, to go and come whenever and wherever he may lawfully do so. Any interference with this freedom may be a legal wrong. To compel forcibly one to go from a place or to prevent him forcibly from coming to a place will generally amount to and be actionable as an assault, battery, nuisance or trespass, but such an act may not, however, constitute an imprisonment.

False imprisonment is imposing by force or threats an unlawful and definite restraint upon one's freedom of locomotion, or detaining one without legal authority.

§ 63. The detention or restraint.-There need not be an actual touching of the person. If the person submits upon command or threats, and believes he is under restraint, it is a sufficient imprisonment. The restraint must, however, be complete. If one is prevented from moving in one direction only it is not imprisonment, nor is it if he is prevented from moving in every direction except one. So long as there is any reasonable path known to be left open and free to him, a person can not

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