Assault

• Definition

  • Putting a person in fear of immediate unlawful violence
  • Section 39 of Criminal Justice act 1988
• Actus reus

  1. The victim must apprehend (R v Lamb)
  2. Immediate (R v Constanza)
  3. Unlawful (R v Ireland)
  4. Personal violence (Tuberville v Savage)
• The victim must apprehend

  • R v Lamb
  • Must be aware that they are about to be subjected to violence
• Immediate

  • R v Constanza
  • The courts have adapted a liberal approach to the meaning of immediate to give justice to the victim
  • 'When one is in a state of terror, one is very often unable to analyse precisely what one is frightened of as likely to happen next'
  • Found in phone calls + verbal contact
• Unlawful personal violence

  • R v Ireland
  • Must be unlawful
• Mens rea

  1. Intention (direct/oblique) = immediate, unlawful fear in the victim that he might suffer some harm
  2. Subjective recklessness = knowing there was a risk + taking it anyway