第17解

battery

【英文】Battery is a criminal offence involving unlawful physical contact，distinct from assault which is the apprehension，not fear，of such contact.

【譯文】毆打（battery）屬于一種涉及非法人體接觸之刑事犯罪，其不同于暴力脅迫（assault），后者可以感知到（apprehension），但不用擔心身體接觸。

【解釋】就“毆打罪”（battery）而言，不同司法管轄區有不同的具體規則，但一些主要要素在所有司法管轄區都是一樣的，這些要素通常包括：（1）犯罪行為人對受害者的攻擊性觸摸或接觸；以及（2）該犯罪行為人意在或知道其行為將造成攻擊性接觸。從本例可以看出，battery和assault是兩個不同但卻又一定聯系的概念，且不同法律對此有不同的規定。

再如：

1.In the United States，criminal battery，or simply battery，is the use of force against another，resulting in harmful or offensive contact.It is a specific common law misdemeanor，although the term is used more generally to refer to any unlawful offensive physical contact with another person，and may be a misdemeanor or a felony，depending on the circumstances.Battery was defined at common law as “any unlawful touching of the person of another by the aggressor himself，or by a substance put in motion by him”. In most cases，battery is now governed by statute，and its severity is determined by the law of the specific jurisdiction.〔譯文：在美國，刑事毆打罪或者簡稱為毆打罪，是針對另一人運用武力并導致傷害性或攻擊性的身體接觸。毆打屬于明確的（specific）普通法上的輕罪，雖然該術語通常更多地用來指代任何非法對另一人的攻擊性身體接觸，且視情況而定既可以是輕罪、也可以是重罪。毆打在普通法上過去被界定為“侵犯者本人與另外一人任何非法的身體的接觸，或者此人運動中與另一人實質性接觸”。大多數情況下，毆打現在由制定法規定，其嚴重程度由具體司法管轄區決定。〕

2.In law，assault is a crime that involves causing a victim to apprehend violence.The term is often confused with battery，which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries，but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence，or in the more limited sense of a threat of violence caused by an immediate show of force...Some jurisdictions have incorporated the definition of civil assault into the definition of the crime making it a criminal assault to intentionally cause another person to apprehend a harmful or offensive contact.〔譯文：法律上講，暴力脅迫是一種涉及受害者可以感知暴力行為的犯罪。該術語常與毆打（battery）混淆，毆打涉及身體接觸。不同的國家對暴力脅迫之具體含義規定不同，但其所指的行為都是能使另一人能夠感知即將到來的暴力以及人身攻擊，或者以迫在眼前的武力展示而出現的以較為有限意義上的暴力脅迫……有些司法管轄區已將民事暴力脅迫之定義納入到犯罪定義之中，使其成為意在因其他人感知到有害的或者攻擊性接觸的刑事暴力脅迫。〕

3.In common law，criminal assault often accompanied battery......The elements of battery are（1）a volitional act（2）done for the purpose of causing a harmful or offensive contact with another person or under circumstances that make such contact substantially certain to occur and（3）which causes such contact.Thus throwing a rock at someone for the purpose of hitting him is a battery if the rock in fact strikes the person and is an assault if the rock misses.〔譯文：在普通法里，刑事暴力脅迫常常伴隨著毆打……毆打的要件是（1）暴力行為，（2）該行為之目的在于給他人造成傷害性或攻擊性接觸、或者該暴力發生在使得此類接觸必定會發生的情況下，以及（3）該行為造成了此類接觸。因此， 意在造成傷害而向某人仍石頭之行為，如果擊中則屬于毆打（battery），如果未擊中，則屬于暴力脅迫（assault）。〕