<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>I found the following quite interesting in light of the legal definition of <i>assault</i>, which most people are unaware of. An assault in the law does not involve any touching at all. Hence, the following piqued my interest: <i>"</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre; ">The basic principle is as follows: anybody who strikes his chaver is </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre; ">over a lav in the Torah (and even if he raises hishand to his chaver, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre; ">he is called a rasha)." </span>[Avodah Volume 12, Number 85 (Slavery in the Torah, #17).]</div><div><br></div><div>In criminal law, just raising one's hand to someone in a threatening manner is an <b>assault</b>. If the person then follows through with physically striking the individual, it then becomes a battery. The following is the definitive legal definition of <i>Assault and Battery</i>:</div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; "><i>Two separate offenses against the person that when used in one expression may be defined as any unlawful and unpermitted touching of another. </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; "><b>Assault </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; "><i>is an act that creates an apprehension in another of an imminent, harmful, or offensive contact. The act consists of a threat of harm accompanied by an apparent, present ability to carry out the threat.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; "> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; "><b>Battery</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; "> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; "><i>is a harmful or offensive touching of another.</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; "><p>The main distinction between the two offenses is the existence or nonexistence of a touching or contact. While contact is an essential element of battery, there <b>must be <u>an absence of contact</u> for assault.</b> Sometimes assault is defined loosely to include battery.</p><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">An "aggravated assault" would be a menacing gesture by means of a weapon. It is legally defined as the </span></font><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><i>unlawful intent or attempt to injure or cause serious bodily harm to anothe</i>r. </span></font></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; ">So if someone waved a gun or knife or baseball bat, etc. at you without contact, that would be an aggravated assault. Once contact was made either by a bullet, knife, etc., the charge would be an aggravated or felonious assault and battery. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; ">Hence, the above statement that "...<i>even if he <b>raises </b>his hand to his chaver, he is called a rasha<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">," fits in perfectly with the legal definition of Assault.</span></i></span></div></span></div></body></html>