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Topic 8
Trespass to the person testTopic 8
Trespass to the person
test
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Question 1
What is the definition of assault?
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Answer 1
Assault was defined in the case of Collins v
Wilcock (1984) as ‘an act which causes another
person to apprehend the infliction of immediate,
unlawful force on his person’.
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Question 2
What happened in Smith v Chief Superintendent,
Woking Police Station (1983)?
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Answer 2
The victim was at home in her ground-floor flat dressed in her nightdress. She was terrified when she suddenly saw the defendant standing in her garden staring at her through the window. The court held that he was liable for assault, on the grounds that the victim feared immediate infliction of force, even though she was safely locked inside the building.
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Question 3
Can words amount to an assault?
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Answer 3
For many years, the courts have debated whether
words alone can amount to an assault. Recently,
the House of Lords decided that a silent phone
call can constitute an assault (R v Constanza; R v
Ireland and Burstow, 1997). It is thought that this
will now also be the position in civil law although
there has not, as yet, been a case to confirm this
principle.
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Question 4
To be guilty of assault, does the defendant have
to intend actually to inflict force on the claimant?
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Answer 4
No. In terms of the defendant’s state of mind, he
or she must have intended the claimant to
apprehend the infliction of immediate force. In
other words, he or she must have intended to
frighten the claimant (enough to amount to an
assault) but does not need to have intended
actually to inflict force on the claimant.
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Question 5
How is battery defined?
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Answer 5
Battery is the application of unlawful force on
another. It is sometimes referred to as ‘the least
touching of another in anger’.
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Question 6
Does there have to be violence or injury for a
battery to be committed?
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Answer 6
No. Any unlawful physical contact can amount to
a battery. There is no need to prove harm or pain
— a mere touch can be sufficient.
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Question 7
What happened in Bird v Jones (1845)?
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Answer 7
The defendant set up a seating area on Hammersmith Bridge and charged those who wanted to watch a boat race. The claimant attempted to walk through the area but refused to pay. The defendant would not let him pass and the claimant sued for false imprisonment. As the claimant could have crossed to the other side of the bridge, the defendant was not liable. The restraint on the claimant’s liberty was not total.
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Question 8
To have a claim for false imprisonment, does the
claimant have to be aware that he or she is being
detained?
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Answer 8
No. In Meering v Grahame-White Aviation Co.
(1920), the Court of Appeal said that the
defendants were liable despite the fact that the
claimant did not know that he was being
detained.
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Question 9
What defences are available to the tort of
trespass to the person?
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Answer 9
The following defences are available:
• consent
• self-defence
• lawful authority and detention
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Question 10
Name the legislation governing harassment.
Topic 8
Trespass to the person test
Answer 10
The Protection from Harassment Act 1997, as
amended by the Serious Organised Crime and
Police Act 2005.
