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.

【译文】殴打（battery）属于一种涉及非法人体接触之刑事犯罪，其不同于暴力胁迫（assault），后者可以感知到（apprehension），但不用担心身体接触。

【解释】就“殴打罪”（battery）而言，不同司法管辖区有不同的具体规则，但一些主要要素在所有司法管辖区都是一样的，这些要素通常包括：（1）犯罪行为人对受害者的攻击性触摸或接触；以及（2）该犯罪行为人意在或知道其行为将造成攻击性接触。从本例可以看出，battery和assault是两个不同但却又一定联系的概念，且不同法律对此有不同的规定。

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.〔译文：在美国，刑事殴打罪或者简称为殴打罪，是针对另一人运用武力并导致伤害性或攻击性的身体接触。殴打属于明确的（specific）普通法上的轻罪，虽然该术语通常更多地用来指代任何非法对另一人的攻击性身体接触，且视情况而定既可以是轻罪、也可以是重罪。殴打在普通法上过去被界定为“侵犯者本人与另外一人任何非法的身体的接触，或者此人运动中与另一人实质性接触”。大多数情况下，殴打现在由制定法规定，其严重程度由具体司法管辖区决定。〕

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.〔译文：法律上讲，暴力胁迫是一种涉及受害者可以感知暴力行为的犯罪。该术语常与殴打（battery）混淆，殴打涉及身体接触。不同的国家对暴力胁迫之具体含义规定不同，但其所指的行为都是能使另一人能够感知即将到来的暴力以及人身攻击，或者以迫在眼前的武力展示而出现的以较为有限意义上的暴力胁迫……有些司法管辖区已将民事暴力胁迫之定义纳入到犯罪定义之中，使其成为意在因其他人感知到有害的或者攻击性接触的刑事暴力胁迫。〕

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.〔译文：在普通法里，刑事暴力胁迫常常伴随着殴打……殴打的要件是（1）暴力行为，（2）该行为之目的在于给他人造成伤害性或攻击性接触、或者该暴力发生在使得此类接触必定会发生的情况下，以及（3）该行为造成了此类接触。因此， 意在造成伤害而向某人仍石头之行为，如果击中则属于殴打（battery），如果未击中，则属于暴力胁迫（assault）。〕