Trespass to the person

Sierra Leone — African Law Reports · 1957-60

Principle established: A presiding election officer with a duty to maintain order at a polling station may use necessary force without committing assault to remove a person who refuses to behave.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1840

Principle established: On this view an assault needs an apparent present ability to carry out the threat.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1705

Principle established: A person may use only reasonable force in self-defence.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1704

Principle established: The slightest contact can be a battery if done with hostility; ordinary social contact is not.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1697

Principle established: Force used in self-defence must be reasonable and proportionate.

Sierra Leone — Court of Appeal · 1921

Principle established: A military officer acting in aid of civil power may use reasonable force to eject a civilian who attempts to force entry into a military-occupied public building in violation of orders.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1830

Principle established: The act comprising a battery must be done without the claimant's consent.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1953

Principle established: A captain may use reasonable force or restraint only when he reasonably believes it necessary for safety.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts

Principle established: Conduct that puts a person in reasonable fear of immediate force is an assault.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1968

Principle established: Excessive force is not justified by a minor attack.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1909

Principle established: Necessity can justify a trespass done to prevent greater harm.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1984

Principle established: Intention to apply force to one person can be 'transferred' to the person who is actually hit.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1823

Principle established: Threatening words alone were traditionally not an assault without some act.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1919

Principle established: Knowledge of the restraint is not required; it goes only to damages (Atkin LJ).

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1988

Principle established: A person may be falsely imprisoned while unaware, e.g. while asleep, though damages may then be nominal.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1953

Principle established: Consent covers only the act actually agreed to; going beyond it is trespass to the person.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1978

Principle established: Players consent only to contact within the normal course of the game, not to deliberate foul play beyond what is expected.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1840

Principle established: Assault turns on the reasonable apprehension of immediate force.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1910

Principle established: Where a person's liberty is subject to a reasonable condition he has accepted, restraining him until it is met is not false imprisonment.

Zimbabwe · 2025

Principle established: In an appeal against sentence, the court will only interfere if the trial court committed a misdirection or if the sentence is so severe as to shock the conscience of the court.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1773

Principle established: Involuntary or instinctive acts of third parties do not break the chain of causation.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts

Principle established: A patient cannot sue for force within the scope of the express or implied consent.

Sierra Leone — Court of Appeal · 1972

Principle established: Volenti non fit injuria applies to bar an action for assault against an employer where an employee voluntarily and knowingly participates in a trial by ordeal outside the course of employment.

Sierra Leone — African Law Reports · 1972-73

Principle established: The doctrine of volenti non fit injuria bars an employee from claiming damages for assault against an employer when the employee voluntarily participated in a trial by ordeal outside employment.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1891

Principle established: Inevitable accident is a defence where the harm could not have been avoided by reasonable care.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1669

Principle established: Words can negate what would otherwise be an assault, since they remove the fear of immediate violence.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1987

Principle established: Unless it is obvious from the act itself, the claimant must show that the touching was hostile.