Why do they call it battery charge?
The term battery refers to a specific type of criminal charge involving the unauthorized application of force against another person's body. This unauthorized application of force results in offensive touching, or actual physical injury.
Criminal Law
Battery is an unlawful application of force directly or indirectly upon another person or their personal belongings, causing bodily injury or offensive contact. The attempt of battery is assault. As a general intent crime, battery doesn't require a specific mens rea.
Battery is a form of assault. Of the different types, it is generally considered the least serious and offences receive relatively low-level sentences. The more serious forms of assault are common assault, ABH and GBH.
Actual bodily harm (ABH)
Actual bodily harm covers injuries that are more serious than battery but less serious than GBH. It doesn't matter whether the person intends to cause the amount of harm that they did, only that they intended to use 'unlawful force'.
Assault refers to the wrong act of causing someone to reasonably fear imminent harm. This means that the fear must be something a reasonable person would foresee as threatening to them. Battery refers to the actual wrong act of physically harming someone.
Etymology. Borrowed from Middle French batterie, from Old French baterie (“action of beating”), from batre (“battre”), from Latin battuō (“beat”), from Gaulish. Doublet of batterie.
Scientific definitions for battery
battery. [ băt′ə-rē ] A device containing an electric cell or a series of electric cells storing energy that can be converted into electrical power (usually in the form of direct current).
The term assault is often used to include a battery, which is committed by the intentional or reckless application of unlawful force to another person. Where there is a battery, the defendant should be charged with 'assault by beating': DPP v Little [1992] QB 645.
Both assault and battery are the types of intentional tort. The assault is generally an attempt to harm someone else which also includes threats against other people. So, assault is a planned attempt to violently harm another person. While the battery is intentional touching another person without the person's consent.
The lowest form of assault is considered a Class C Misdemeanor. The highest penalty one can receive for a Class C Misdemeanor assault is a fine that can be no higher than $500.
What are the three types of assault?
There are three basic types of assault offence set out in law – common assault, actual bodily harm (ABH) and wounding / grievous bodily harm (GBH).
Types of sentences include probation, fines, short-term incarceration, suspended sentences, which only take effect if the convict fails to meet certain conditions, payment of restitution to the victim, community service, or drug and alcohol rehabilitation for minor crimes.
To a woman her hair is a vitally important part of her body. Where a significant portion of a woman's hair is cut off without her consent, this is a serious matter amounting to actual (not trivial or insignificant) bodily harm.
ABH is defined as any injury calculated to interfere with the health or comfort of the victim. It does not need to be permanent but it must be more than merely transient. Cuts, grazes, black eyes, bruises or burns will satisfy the test, as will a recognisable psychiatric illness.
GBH & the impact of a weapon being used
However if a knuckle duster was used, the punch and consequent broken jaw will more likely be considered intentional. Seriously harming a victim recklessly but without intent is classified as a Section 20 Assault – a less serious form of GBH.
Level 2: Assault With a Weapon / Causing Bodily Harm. Level 3: Aggravated Assault.
Assault comes in a picture before the battery. It happens when a person plans and tries to harm to another person when a person commits an act of battery. Act of assault can be tried under civil lawsuits as well as criminal lawsuits.
Simple battery is a Class A misdemeanor (max. $1,000 fine; 6 months to 1 year in jail). It's aggravated battery if there's “great bodily harm.” It's also aggravated battery if there is an aggravating factor. Most of the factors that aggravate an assault also aggravate a battery. All aggravated batteries are felonies.
| American English word | British English equivalent |
|---|---|
| Battery | Cell / Cells |
| Eraser | Rubber |
| Mixer / Blender | Mixi or Mixie |
| Refrigerator | Fridge |
In 1800, Volta invented the first true battery, which came to be known as the voltaic pile. The voltaic pile consisted of pairs of copper and zinc discs piled on top of each other, separated by a layer of cloth or cardboard soaked in brine (i.e., the electrolyte).
What did a battery used to be called?
This was known as the trough battery. Volta himself invented a variant that consisted of a chain of cups filled with a salt solution, linked together by metallic arcs dipped into the liquid. This was known as the Crown of Cups. These arcs were made of two different metals (e.g., zinc and copper) soldered together.
ABH requires an injury to be caused that goes beyond a trivial one. ABH and GBH (grievous bodily harm) are terms used to describe the severity of injuries in cases where there has been an unlawful application of force. It is effectively a more serious form of battery.
Common assault is when apprehension of immediate unlawful violence is caused. Battery is when unlawful violence on another person is exerted. Successful claims for both common assault and battery must prove that the actions were committed with intention or recklessness.
Grievous bodily harm (GBH) means the assault has caused serious physical harm. It does not have to be permanent or dangerous. For example, a broken bone would amount to GBH – in some cases a broken bone might lead to permanent disability but, in others, it might heal without leaving any long-term effects.
In the United States, provocation is rarely accepted as a complete defense, but state courts have ruled that it is still a mitigating factor in matters of assault and/or battery where the sentence can be reduced or the crime lowered to a lesser charge.