Your Chance to Comment on the Restatement of Intentional Torts: 101 Battery

In an attempt to elicit comments about the ALI’s Restatement of Intentional Torts, Ken Simons and Ellen Pryor asked that I post the black letter portions of the current draft.  Today we start with section 101 on battery.  If you have comments, you can post them here or send them directly to Ken and Ellen (or both).  Ken can be reached at:  ksimons@bu.edu and Ellen at Ellen.Pryor@untsystem.edu.  The entire draft, comments and all, is here.

§ 101. Battery

(1) An actor is subject to liability to another for battery if:

(a) the actor intends to cause a contact with the person of the other;

(b) the actor’s conduct causes such a contact;

(c) the contact (i) is offensive or (ii) causes bodily harm to the other;

and

(d) the other does not actually consent to the contact [or to the

conduct that causes the contact].

(2) A contact is offensive if:

(a) the contact offends a reasonable sense of personal dignity; or

(b) the actor knows that the contact seriously offends the other’s sense

of personal dignity, and it is not unduly burdensome for the actor to refrain

from causing the contact.

–CJR