What is the difference between assault and battery?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Davies, Ducharme and Greidanus v. Pedersen, 2003 BCSC 1052 (CanLII):
In their pleadings, neither party distinguished between claims of assault and claims in battery. The distinction was explained by McEwan J. in Verigin v. Regnier, [1996] B.C.J. No. 2130 (S.C.) at ¶ 67: Battery is the intentional infliction of a harmful or offensive contact upon the body of another. Assault, properly speaking, is restricted to the tort of creating an imminent apprehension of harmful or offensive contact. In common speech "assault" is often understood to include battery. The term was used in that sense at various points in the trial and in submission.
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