LAW 122 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Contributory Negligence, Malicious Prosecution, Detinue
15 Apr 2017
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Intentional torts involve intentional, rather than merely careless, conduct. The plaintiff doesn"t have to prove that the defendant intended to either cause harm or commit a tort. For example, you building a fence on my property is an intentional tort of trespass to land, even if you thought the land belongs to you. Assault occurs when the defendant intentionally causes the plaintiff to reasonably believe that offensive bodily contact is imminent. It is based on a reasonable belief that such contact will occur. It"s designed to discourage people from alarming others. Swinging your first, even if it doesn"t make contact is assault. If it"s done from behind and the other person doesn"t see it coming, it"s not assault. It"s enough if the plaintiff reasonably believed that bodily contact would occur. Pointing a gun at someone even if it"s not loaded is assault: plaintiff must have believed that bodily contact was imminent.
