England & Wales
In England & Wales, the use of (reasonable) force is provided to Police and any other person from Section 3 of the Criminal Law Act 1967. It states:
"A person may use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances in the prevention of crime, or in effecting or assisting in the lawful arrest of offenders or suspected offenders or of persons unlawfully at large".
The benchmark as to whether the use of force is considered lawful are whether it was reasonable, proportionate, legitimate & necessary.
(Further provision about when force is "reasonable" was made by section 76 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.)
There is also a common law definition of reasonable force:
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Read more about this topic: Use Of Force
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