What is battery in law?

Battery and assault are not the same

In most states assault is the threat or attempt that puts someone in reasonable fear of imminent contact; battery is the contact itself. Raise a fist and it may be assault; land the punch and it is battery. A few states, and England, merge the two under the single label of assault, which is why definitions found online often conflict.

The elements

• An intentional act — intent to make contact, not necessarily intent to injure.
• Harmful or offensive contact, judged by what a reasonable person would find offensive.
• No valid consent.
• Contact with the person or something closely connected to them, such as a bag being carried or a cane being held.

How it is graded

Simple battery is usually a misdemeanour. It becomes aggravated — a felony — when a weapon is used, when serious bodily injury results, when the victim is a protected class such as a police officer, a child or an elderly person, or when it happens during another felony. Domestic battery is handled under separate statutes in most states, often with mandatory arrest and immediate no-contact orders.

Common defences

Self-defence or defence of others using proportionate force; consent, which is why contact within the rules of a contact sport is not battery; lack of intent for genuinely accidental contact; and mistaken identity.

The civil side

The same incident can produce a civil claim for damages even if the criminal case fails, because the civil standard of proof is only a balance of probabilities. That is how a defendant acquitted of a crime can still be ordered to pay.