Trespass to the Person: Assault, Battery and False Imprisonment
Trespass to the person protects bodily integrity and liberty. It is actionable without proof of actual damage, which is why it suits claimants whose injury is dignitary rather than financial.
Assault
An intentional act causing the claimant reasonably to apprehend the immediate application of unlawful force. Points to apply:
- There must be an apprehension of immediate force: Stephens v Myers (raised fist at close quarters, members intervening) sufficed.
- Words can negate the threat: Tuberville v Savage (If it were not assize time...).
- The defendant must have the apparent capacity to carry out the threat (Thomas v NUM).
- Fear is not the point; apprehension of contact is.
Battery
Intentional application of unlawful force to another. Any contact, however slight, may suffice, but ordinary social contact is covered by implied consent (Collins v Wilcock). Hostility is no longer a strict requirement, though it remains a useful indicator. Battery can be committed through an object or by setting a trap, and an omission to remove a continuing contact can suffice (Fagan v Metropolitan Police Commissioner).
False imprisonment
Complete deprivation of liberty without lawful justification. It requires total restraint: Bird v Jones (part of a road fenced off, with a way round, was not imprisonment). The claimant need not know of the detention at the time (Murray v Ministry of Defence), and the defendant must prove justification. Article 14 of the 1992 Constitution protects personal liberty, so arrests must comply with constitutional and statutory requirements, including being informed of the reason; detention beyond lawful authority is actionable even where the initial arrest was proper. A refusal to allow a child to leave by a parent may not be imprisonment of a school (Herring v Boyle), because there was no restraint by the defendant.
Defences
Consent (including implied consent to ordinary touching and to sporting contact within the rules), lawful arrest and detention, reasonable self-defence, parental and statutory authority, and necessity.
Worked example
A store detective physically holds a customer's arm and blocks the door for forty minutes on a mistaken suspicion of theft. Battery is made out by the holding; false imprisonment is made out by the complete blockage with no lawful justification, unless the detective can show a statutory power of detention exercised properly. Mistaken but honest suspicion is not a defence, though it may mitigate damages.
Traps that cost marks
Describing assault as attempted battery; saying false imprisonment requires physical walls; forgetting that the defendant bears the burden of proving lawful justification; and overlooking constitutional and statutory limits on arrest.