A battery is the unlawful touching the person of another by the aggressor himself, or any other substance put in motion by him. It must be either wilfully committed, or proceed from want of due care. Hence an injury, be it never so small, done to the person of another, in an angry, spiteful, rude or insolent manner, as by spitting in his face, or any way touching him in anger, or violently jostling him, are batteries in the eye of the law. First, As a salutary mode of correction. Watchmen may arrest, and detain in prison for examination, persons walking in the streets by might, whom there is reasonable ground to suspect of felony, although there is no proof of a felony having been committed.
Any person has a right to arrest another to prevent a felony.
Any one may arrest another upon suspicion of felony, provided a felony has actually been committed and there is reasonable ground for suspecting the person arrested to be the criminal, and that the party making the arrest, himself entertained the suspicion. Any private individual may arrest a felon. But a request to desist should be first made, unless the urgent necessity of the case dispenses with it. Secondly, A battery may be justified in the exercise of an office. A constable may freshly arrest one who, in, his view, has committed a breach of the peace, and carry him before a magistrate.