Keep me logged in until I sign out. In civil law, assault and battery are commonly referred to as intentional torts. These legal causes of action provide for damages against the person who intentionally injures or intends to injure another.
Victims often wait for a criminal conviction, which requires evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.
Civil assault is defined as conduct causing another s expectation of im mediate harm or offensive contact with his or her body. Words alone do not constitute an assault unless they are accompanied by a menacing act such as threats being made while holding a knife. Civil battery is the unjustified harmful, offensive touching of another person s body or anything connected to it. The contact may be made by someone s fists or by a bullet launched by someone shooting a gun. Battery also occurs when actions exceed what is permitted, such as a doctor permitted to biopsy a small section of a person s leg but amputating the entire limb without the patient s formal consent.