Trespass Essay

Trespass to persons is defined as a direct or intentional interference with a person’s body or freedom. There are three main constituents of trespass to a person that are namely battery, assault and false imprisonment. Briefly and generally defined, battery is the direct and intentional application of force to another person, assault is known as the action to the claimant in such a way that he feels like he is being attacked or harmed and lastly, false imprisonment detaining the claimant to deprive of freedom of movement, without a lawful justification or proof to do so. The common elements between battery, assault and false imprisonment are that the wrong must be committed by direct and intentional means, with direct and unintentional acts falling under the tort of negligence. Battery and assault require the claimant to establish that the defendant intended to act, while false imprisonment is a tort of strict liability. The guiding principle behind all three is based on the statement by Lord Justice Goff who stated in Collins v Wilcock that "any person's body is inviolate", excepting normal, day-to-day physical contact. Intention is a very important element to demonstrate that

In this case, the plaintiff was injured when a soldier fired a baton round after some soldiers were attacked by rioters. The round had been deliberately fired but it accidentally struck the plaintiff. The court held that the soldier had intentionally applied force to the claimant although his intention was to hit someone but the fact that the actual person hit was not the intended target is irrelevant. The doctrine of transferred malice which is defined a legal doctrine when the intention to harm one individual is missed but causes a second person to be hurt instead, the perpetrator is still held responsible, is