re: #144 abolitionist

well, according to a text I have titled, “You and the Law” (Canadian), I read:

The strict legal distinction between the terms assault and battery— often linked or merged in court cases — is this: “assault” describes the open threat of violence (brandinshing your fist undersomeone’s nose) while “battery” involves the threat being put into anction. The latter requires actual physical contact…The law recognizes that you can be harmed in a mental as well as a physical way by someone who threatens violence as well as by someone who actually resorts to it.”

There’s also Wiki article…which reads: “Assault and battery is the combination of two violent crimes: assault (the threat of violence) and battery (physical violence). This legal distinction exists only in jurisdictions that distinguish assault as threatened violence rather than actual violence.”