"Hatunen" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 14:42:15 +0100,
(David Horne) wrote:

Mxsmanic wrote:

David Horne writes:

You can feel threatened, quite legitimately,
without _being_ directly threatened.

That's assault.

In UK law, that would be very hard to prove, unless there had been any
physical contact.

In general, assault does not require physical contact; physical
contact constitutes battery. Assault is an aggressive action
which the recipient might reasonably assume could end in battery.
Specific statutes may modify this, and civil and criminal law may
differ somewhat.


As I said earlier under English common law assault involves placing a
person in immediate and unlawful apprehension of danger.
Unless some form of physical action such as a lunge forward
or raised fist is witnessed criminal prosecutions for such assaults
are uncommon.

Keith