 A distinction is drawn betwixt the offence of assault and that of battery. Assault is the apprehension of the possibility of immediate unlawful violence, and battery that of the infliction of such violence. Several proposals, including one from the Criminal Law Revision Committee in 1980 have proposed merging the offences. However, the distinction was confirmed in DPP v Little in 1992. There, the conflation of assault and battery was criticised as duplicitous. If D throws a punch at V, who dodges, this is likely to be an assault but not a battery; if V is attacked from behind, this may constitute a battery without an assault. Actions which constitute ordinary daily life are not considered assault or battery, for example, jostling on a crowded train. The term "common assault" is used to refer to either a technical assault or a battery.
