Battery
Definition
1. In criminal law, a physical act that results in harmful or offensive contact with another's person without that person's consent.
2. In tort law, the intentional causation of harmful or offensive contact with another's person without that person's consent.
Illustrative caselaw
See, e.g. Claggett v. State, 670 A.2d 1002 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 1996).
See also
Definition from Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary
A crime consisting of physical contact that is intended to harm someone. Unintentional harmful contact is not battery, no mater how careless the behavior or how severe the injury. A fist fight is a common battery; being hit by a wild pitch in a baseball game is not.
Definition provided by Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary.
August 19, 2010, 5:11 pm
