Offence against the person
Encyclopedia
In criminal law
, an offence against the person usually refers to a crime which is committed by direct physical harm or force being applied to another person.
They are usually analysed by division into the following categories:
They can be further analysed by division into:
And it is then possible to consider degrees and aggravations.
Offences against the person are usually taken to comprise:
The crimes are usually grouped together in common law
countries as a legacy of the Offences against the Person Act 1861
.
Although most sexual offences will also be offences against the person, for various reasons (including sentencing and registration of offenders) sexual crimes are usually categorised separately. Similarly, although many homicide
s also involve an offence against the person, they are usually categorised under the more serious category.
For offences of aggravated assault, see Assault#England and Wales
(15 & 16 Geo.6 & 1 Eliz.2 c.67) and is defined for that purpose by paragraphs 1 (England and Wales and Northern Ireland) and 2 (Scotland) of the Schedule to that Act.
It formerly included in particular:
Criminal law
Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...
, an offence against the person usually refers to a crime which is committed by direct physical harm or force being applied to another person.
They are usually analysed by division into the following categories:
- Fatal offences
- Sexual offences
- Non-fatal non-sexual offences
They can be further analysed by division into:
- Assaults
- Injuries
And it is then possible to consider degrees and aggravations.
Offences against the person are usually taken to comprise:
- Fatal offences
- Murder
- Manslaughter
- Non-fatal non-sexual offences
- AssaultAssaultIn law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear 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...
, or common assaultCommon assaultCommon assault was an offence under the common law of England, and has been held now to be a statutory offence in England and Wales. It is committed by a person who causes another person to apprehend the immediate use of unlawful violence by the defendant. It was thought to include battery... - BatteryBattery (crime)Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault which is the fear of such contact.In the United States, criminal battery, or simply battery, is the use of force against another, resulting in harmful or offensive contact...
, or common battery - Wounding or wounding with intent
- Poisoning
- Assault occasioning actual bodily harm (and derivative offences)
- Inflicting grievous bodily harmGrievous bodily harmGrievous bodily harm is a term of art used in English criminal law which has become synonymous with the offences that are created by sections 18 and 20 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861....
or causing grievous bodily harm with intent (and derivative offences)
- Assault
The crimes are usually grouped together in common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
countries as a legacy of the Offences against the Person Act 1861
Offences Against The Person Act 1861
The Offences against the Person Act 1861 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It consolidated provisions related to offences against the person from a number of earlier statutes into a single Act...
.
Although most sexual offences will also be offences against the person, for various reasons (including sentencing and registration of offenders) sexual crimes are usually categorised separately. Similarly, although many homicide
Homicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
s also involve an offence against the person, they are usually categorised under the more serious category.
Fatal offences
- MurderMurder in English lawMurder is an offence under the common law of England and Wales. It is considered the most serious form of homicide, in which one person kills another either intending to cause death or intending to cause serious injury .-Actus reus:The definition of the actus reus Murder is an offence under the...
- ManslaughterManslaughter in English lawIn the English law of homicide, manslaughter is a less serious offence than murder, the differential being between levels of fault based on the mens rea . In England and Wales, the usual practice is to prefer a charge of murder, with the judge or defence able to introduce manslaughter as an option...
- Corporate manslaughterCorporate manslaughterCorporate manslaughter is a criminal offence in English law, being an act of homicide committed by a company or organisation. In general, in English criminal law, a juristic person is in the same position as a natural person, and may be convicted for committing many offences...
, contrary to section 1 of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that seeks to broaden the law on corporate manslaughter in the United Kingdom... - InfanticideInfanticideInfanticide or infant homicide is the killing of a human infant. Neonaticide, a killing within 24 hours of a baby's birth, is most commonly done by the mother.In many past societies, certain forms of infanticide were considered permissible...
, contrary to section 1(1) of the Infanticide Act 1938
Sexual offences
Non-fatal non-sexual offences
- AssaultAssaultIn law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear 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...
, or common assaultCommon assaultCommon assault was an offence under the common law of England, and has been held now to be a statutory offence in England and Wales. It is committed by a person who causes another person to apprehend the immediate use of unlawful violence by the defendant. It was thought to include battery... - BatteryBattery (crime)Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault which is the fear of such contact.In the United States, criminal battery, or simply battery, is the use of force against another, resulting in harmful or offensive contact...
, or common battery
For offences of aggravated assault, see Assault#England and Wales
- Administering poison, so as to endanger life, contrary to section 23 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861
- Administering poison, contrary to section 24 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861
- Unlawful wounding or inflicting grievous bodily harmGrievous bodily harmGrievous bodily harm is a term of art used in English criminal law which has become synonymous with the offences that are created by sections 18 and 20 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861....
, contrary to section 20 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 - Wounding or causing grievous bodily harm with intent, contrary to section 18 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861
Visiting Forces Act 1952
The expression "offence against the person" is used as a term of art in section 3 of the Visiting Forces Act 1952Visiting Forces Act 1952
The Visiting Forces Act 1952 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. provides immunity against prosecution for certain offences in the courts of United Kingdom by members of visiting forces and, by virtue of the 1964 Act, international headquarters...
(15 & 16 Geo.6 & 1 Eliz.2 c.67) and is defined for that purpose by paragraphs 1 (England and Wales and Northern Ireland) and 2 (Scotland) of the Schedule to that Act.
England and Wales and Northern Ireland
In the application of section 3 of the 1952 Act to England and Wales and Northern Ireland it means any of the following offences:- murderMurderMurder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, manslaughterManslaughterManslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
, tortureTortureTorture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
, robberyRobberyRobbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
and assaultAssaultIn law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear 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...
and any offence of aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring suicide or an attempt to commit suicide - any offence not falling within the foregoing bullet point, being an offence punishable under any of the following enactments:
- the Offences against the Person Act 1861Offences Against The Person Act 1861The Offences against the Person Act 1861 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It consolidated provisions related to offences against the person from a number of earlier statutes into a single Act...
, except section 57 (which relates to bigamyBigamyIn cultures that practice marital monogamy, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. Bigamy is a crime in most western countries, and when it occurs in this context often neither the first nor second spouse is aware of the other...
) - the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 , or "An Act to make further provision for the Protection of Women and Girls, the suppression of brothels, and other purposes", was the latest in a 25-year series of legislation in the United Kingdom beginning with the Offences against the Person Act 1861 that...
- the Punishment of Incest Act 1908
- sections 1 to 5 and section 11 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933Children and Young Persons Act 1933The Children and Young Persons Act 1933 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland...
, and sections 11, 12, 14 to 16, and 21 of the Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland) 1950 - the Infanticide Act 1938 and the Infanticide Act (Northern Ireland) 1939
- article 3(1)(a) of the Protection of Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1978
- section 1(1)(a) of the Protection of Children Act 1978Protection of Children Act 1978The Protection of Children Act 1978 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.The Protection of Children Bill was put before Parliament as a Private Member's Bill by Cyril Townsend in the 1977-1978 session of Parliament....
- the Child Abduction Act 1984Child Abduction Act 1984The Child Abduction Act 1984 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It creates offences that replace, in England and Wales, the offence of child stealing under section 56 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861....
- the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003The Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It extended previous legislation by also making it illegal for UK nationals to perform female genital mutilation outside the borders of the UK, and increased the maximum penalty from five to 14 years.The Act...
- the Child Abduction (Northern Ireland) Order 1985
- Part 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003Sexual Offences Act 2003The Sexual Offences Act 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland that was passed in 2003 and became law on 1 May 2004.It replaced older sexual offences laws with more specific and explicit wording...
- the Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008
- the Offences against the Person Act 1861
- an offence of making such a threat as is mentioned in subsection (3)(a) of section 1 of the Internationally Protected Persons Act 1978 and any of the following offences against a protected person within the meaning of that section, namely an offence of kidnappingKidnappingIn criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
, an offence of false imprisonmentFalse imprisonmentFalse imprisonment is a restraint of a person in a bounded area without justification or consent. False imprisonment is a common-law felony and a tort. It applies to private as well as governmental detention...
and an offence under section 2 of the Explosive Substances Act 1883Explosive Substances Act 1883The Explosive Substances Act 1883 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It makes it illegal to use -- or conspire or intend to use -- any explosive substance to cause an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property, whether or not any explosion actually takes...
of causing an explosion likely to endanger life - an offence under section 2 of the Nuclear Material (Offences) Act 1983, where the circumstances are that either in the case of a contravention of subsection (2), the act falling within paragraph (a) or (b) of that subsection would, had it been done, have constituted an offence falling within sub-paragraph (a) or (b) of this paragraph, or in the case of a contravention of subsection (3) or (4), the act threatened would, had it been done, have constituted such an offence
- an offence of making such a threat as is mentioned in section 3 of the United Nations Personnel Act 1997 and any of the following offences against a UN worker within the meaning of that Act
- kidnappingKidnappingIn criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
- false imprisonmentFalse imprisonmentFalse imprisonment is a restraint of a person in a bounded area without justification or consent. False imprisonment is a common-law felony and a tort. It applies to private as well as governmental detention...
- an offence under section 2 of the Explosive Substances Act 1883Explosive Substances Act 1883The Explosive Substances Act 1883 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It makes it illegal to use -- or conspire or intend to use -- any explosive substance to cause an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property, whether or not any explosion actually takes...
of causing an explosion likely to endanger life
- kidnapping
It formerly included in particular:
- rapeRapeRape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
and buggeryBuggeryThe British English term buggery is very close in meaning to the term sodomy, and is often used interchangeably in law and popular speech. It may be, also, a specific common law offence, encompassing both sodomy and bestiality.-In law:...
(presumably including at common law) - offences of rape and buggery under the law of Northern Ireland
- offences punishable under
- section 89 of the Mental Health Act (Northern Ireland) 1948 (which related to certain offences against mentally defective females)
- sections 2 to 28 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956Sexual Offences Act 1956The Sexual Offences Act 1956 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated the English criminal law relating to sexual offences between 1957 and 2004. It was mostly repealed by the Sexual Offences Act 2003 which replaced it, but sections 33 to 37 still survive. The 2003 Act...
- section 1 of the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985The Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It made female genital mutilation a crime throughout the UK....
Scotland
In the application of section 3 of the 1952 Act to Scotland, the expression "offence against the person" means any of the following offences:- murderMurderMurder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, culpable homicideCulpable homicideCulpable homicide is a specific offence in various jurisdictions within the Commonwealth of Nations which involves the illegal killing of a person either with or without an intention to kill depending upon how a particular jurisdiction has defined the offence...
, rapeRapeRape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
, tortureTortureTorture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
, robberyRobberyRobbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
, assaultAssaultIn law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear 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...
, incestIncestIncest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
, sodomySodomySodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"...
, lewd, indecent and libidinous practices, procuring abortion, abductionKidnappingIn criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
, cruel and unnatural treatment of persons, threats to murder or to injure persons - any offence not falling within the last bullet point, being an offence punishable under any of the following enactments:
- the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 , or "An Act to make further provision for the Protection of Women and Girls, the suppression of brothels, and other purposes", was the latest in a 25-year series of legislation in the United Kingdom beginning with the Offences against the Person Act 1861 that...
- section 46 of the Mental Deficiency and Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1913 (which relates to certain offences against mentally defective females)
- sections 12 to 16 and 22 of the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937
- section 52(1)(a) of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982The Civic Government Act 1982 is an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament which makes provision for a wide range of civic government matters....
- the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885
- an offence of making such a threat as is mentioned in subsection (3)(a) of section 1 of the Internationally Protected Persons Act 1978 and the following offence against a protected person within the meaning of that section, namely, an offence under section 2 of the Explosive Substances Act 1883Explosive Substances Act 1883The Explosive Substances Act 1883 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It makes it illegal to use -- or conspire or intend to use -- any explosive substance to cause an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property, whether or not any explosion actually takes...
of causing an explosion likely to endanger life - an offence under section 2 of the Nuclear Material (Offences) Act 1983, where the circumstances are that either, in the case of a contravention of subsection (2), the act falling within paragraph (a) or (b) of that subsection would, had it been done, have constituted an offence falling within sub-paragraph (a) or (b) of this paragraph, or, in the case of a contravention of subsection (3) or (4), the act threatened would, had it been done, have constituted such an offence
- an offence of making such a threat as is mentioned in section 3 of the United Nations Personnel Act 1997 and an offence of causing an explosion likely to endanger life, committed against a UN worker (within the meaning of that Act), under section 2 of the Explosive Substances Act 1883Explosive Substances Act 1883The Explosive Substances Act 1883 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It makes it illegal to use -- or conspire or intend to use -- any explosive substance to cause an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property, whether or not any explosion actually takes...