Ethics

Assault can simply be defined as the crime of violence against another person. It should be noted that for a crime to qualify as assault, there must be an act intended to cause fear of offensive or harmful contact. Further, this act that results to fear in a victim of offensive or even harmful contact should be eminent. Words alone cannot be termed as assault. Intentional physical contact of any kind with another person against his or her consent is also included in assault.

Closely related to assault is battery which is a volitional act done with the intention of causing offensive or harmful contact with another person which causes the said act. At common law criminal assault was categorized as attempted battery. An assault is said to be aggravated when there is an attempt to cause bodily injury of high magnitude or there is an attempt to cause bodily injury using a deadly weapon for example a gun.

There are several general defenses to assault, its level not withstanding. The first one is consent which can be partial or complete defense to assault aggrevated or otherwise. Court officials and police officers are empowered to use reasonable force while carrying out their official duties and can therefore cite this as a defense against assault. Defense of property can also be cited as a defense against assault just like prevention of crime. Finally, officers who administer punishment are immune from prosecution for assault since it is a part of the legal system.

By way of example if John broke into Peters house in the dead of the night  and attacked him, one could ask if Peter would be liable to John i he chased him out of his compound and down into the street in response to the attack.

Since Peter reasonably believed that John broke into his house and attacked him, he has the right to defend himself by injuring Peter. If Peter is certain that John is about to inflict bodily harm, he may employ non deadly force to defend himself .Further, Peter may be allowed by courts to employ deadly force if at all he strongly believes that John is about to inflict serious bodily harm or even death.

However, Peter should be cautious since the courts can turn against him. This can happen if he himself or even his property is no longer in danger but still pursues John out of his compound and further down the street .In spite of how strange it sounds Peter can be liable for the injuries caused to John.
Another good example is that of a security guard who suspects a shopper of shoplifting and detains him. The shopper being innocent may want to recover damages for physical   injuries, loss of time, discomfort or even inconvenience .He can only succeed if it is found that the guard acted maliciously  thus this happens to be a case of false imprisonment. The guard is however permitted to reasonably detain the shopper in good faith for a reasonable period of time in the store premises and could cite this as his defense.

In conclusion, there are some acts which do not constitute assault for example telling a person that he or she would be harmed in future or even pointing at somebody with a gun without his knowledge. This is because in both acts, there is no apparent ability to cause an apprehension and thus assault.