LAW 122 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Contributory Negligence, Tort, Detinue
11 Sep 2017
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Assault: occurs when the defendant intentionally causes the plaintiff to reasonably believe that offensive bodily contact is imminent: the tort is not based on physical contact. It is based on a reasonable belief that such contact will occur. The tort is designed to keep the peace by discouraging people from alarming others. As a result, you may commit an assault by swinging your fist at me, even if you do not actually make contact. It is enough if the plaintiff reasonably believed that bodily contact would occur. (ie. pointing a gun at someone, they may believe that the gun is loaded): the plaintiff must have believed that bodily contact was imminent. Threat must be immediate (cannot say that someone is going to kick you in two weeks): can occur even if the plaintiff was not frightened. It is enough that the defendant threatened some form of offensive contact. A claim for assault is usually joined with a claim for battery.
