January 7th, 2009
What is Assault and Battery?
Although assault and battery are often paired together as one offense, these terms have two different legal meanings. This article discusses the difference between the two.
Although assault and battery are often paired together as one offense, these terms have two different legal meanings and can occur separately. An assault refers to an illegal and intentional threat to cause bodily harm to another person. Even if there is no actual contact between the people involved, an assault may still have taken place. For example, if someone points a toy water gun at another person they may be liable for assault even though the “weapon” was only a toy.