Battery (tort) - Defenses

Defenses

The standard defenses to trespass to the person, namely necessity, consent, self defense, and defense of others, apply to battery. As practical examples, under the first, a physician may touch a person without that person's consent in order to render medical aid to him or her in an emergency. Under the second, a person who has, either expressly or impliedly, consented to participation in a contact sport cannot claim in battery against other participants for a contact permitted by the rules of that sport, or expected to occur within the course of play. For example, a basketball player who commits a hard foul against an opposing player does not thereby commit a battery, because fouls are a regular part of the course of the game, even though they result in a penalty. However, a player who struck another player during a time-out would be liable for battery, because there is no game-related reason for such a contact to occur.

Self defense as to battery can consist only of engaging in physical contact with another person in order to prevent the other person from themselves engaging in a physical attack.