Torts
Battery
Definition
Battery is an intentional tort involving the harmful or offensive contact with another person's body without their consent. The defendant must intend to cause the contact (or an imminent apprehension of contact), and the contact must be harmful or offensive to a reasonable person. The plaintiff need not be aware of the contact at the time. Battery is both a tort and a crime, though the elements and burdens of proof differ in civil and criminal proceedings.
Example
A five-year-old boy deliberately pulls a chair out from under an elderly woman as she is about to sit down. If the child had the requisite intent to cause the contact, this is a battery.