Trespass to Person: Assault, Battery, Mayhem, False imprisonment

You are on the 8:12 fast local from Belapur. A stranger lunges at you, fist raised, and you flinch — but the train jerks and he never touches you. Five minutes later a crowd at Dadar shoves you so hard that you stumble, without anyone meaning you any harm. Later a security guard at a mall locks you in a room for an hour “until the manager comes”. In each case something has happened to your body or your freedom. Which of these is a tort, which is only a crime, and what exactly must you prove to get money for it?

In two minutes

Trespass to the person is the direct, intentional interference with another's body or bodily freedom: assault is the threat, battery is the contact, false imprisonment is the total restraint — and each is actionable without proof of any damage.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Law of Torts, Motor Accident Claims and Consumer Protection on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.