Assault

ASSAULT, in English law, "an attempt or offer with force or violence to do corporal hurt to another, as by striking at another with a stick or other weapon, or without a weapon, though the party misses his aim." Mere words, be they ever so provoking, will not constitute an assault. Coupled with the attempt or threat to inflict corporal injury, there must in all cases be the possibility of carrying the threat into effect, and so if the person threatened is out of range there can be no assault. A battery is more than a threat or attempt to injure the person of another; the injury must have been inflicted, but it makes no difference however small it may be, as the law does not "draw the line between degrees of violence," but "totally prohibits the first and lowest stage of it." Every battery includes an assault. A common assault is a misdemeanour, and is punishable by imprisonment with or with out hard labour to the extent of one year, or by fine, and if it occasions bodily harm, with penal servitude for five years, or imprisonment to the extent of two years, with or without hard labour. There are various different kinds of assaults of a more serious description which are provided against by particular enact ments of parliament, such as the Offences against the Person Act 1861 ; and there are also certain aggravated assaults for which the punishment is more severe than for common assault, as an assault with intent to murder, with intent to commit a rape, etc. An assault may be both a tort and a crime, giving a civil action for damages to the person injured, as well as being the subject of a criminal prosecution.

United States.

In the United States assault and battery, al though sometimes defined by statute, usually follow the common law definitions. The statutes usually define an assault as an unlawful attempt to commit immediate bodily injury upon an other, and battery as an unlawful touching of another by an assail ant in a rude and insolent manner, with or without a weapon. In tent is a constituent part of civil assault, thus an accident cannot constitute an assault since it lacks negligence and intention. The apparent intention must be to inflict physical injury on the person assaulted. However, if an action is for assault and battery the intention is not a material element, for, if the act was wrongful, the intent is presumed from the act. If the act was lawful the ele ment of malice or recklessness enters and this is a necessary part of the action in such case, and must be stated under United States practice. A criminal assault and battery may be committed al though the person injured does not know of, realize or fear the existence of the assault and battery. It may be stated as a general rule in assault and battery that the intention of the aggressor and the fear or apprehension of the person assaulted are not in any way controlling, thus if a person throws a stone at A and strikes B, he is guilty of assault and battery upon B upon the principle of con structive intent; i.e., that a man is presumed to intend the natural and probable consequences of his acts. For when one puts into motion an injurious or deadly agency he assumes responsibility for all the natural and probable consequences of his conduct. There is an irreconcilable difference of opinion in the United States as to what constitutes a criminal assault in a case where A points a gun at B, within shooting distance, knowing that the gun is not loaded, and threatens to "blow his head off." Some courts hold that this is not a criminal assault because A has no actual in tention and lacks the ability to injure B in the manner threatened. Other courts hold that it is a criminal assault because there is an apparent present intention and ability to injure B, and the out ward demonstration of A may lead to defensive measures on B's part which might produce, at least, a breach of the peace. The weight of authority is in favour of the latter position. A battery may be committed by the administration of a drug to another who is innocent as to its nature and content. So, in battery, deception may be the equivalent of force, since the deceit practised is a fraud on the will of the innocent consumer of the drug equivalent to force. An officer of the law, or one who aids him, in the enforcement of his lawful duties is privileged in the use of such force as is reasonably necessary to uphold the law and preserve order.

In military language, the word is used of the culminating phase of an attack, when the advancing troops come to close quarters with the enemy, surging into and overrunning his positions. ASSAYE, a village of Hyderabad or the Nizam's Dominions, in southern India, just beyond the Berar frontier. The place is celebrated as the site of a battle fought on Sept. 23, 1803, between the combined Mahratta forces under Sindhia and the rajah of Berar and the British under Maj.-Gen. Wellesley, afterwards the duke of Wellington. The Mahratta force consisted of so,000 men, supported by loo pieces of cannon served by French artillery men, and entrenched in a strong position. Against this the Eng lish had but a force of 4,500 men, which, however, after a severe struggle, gained the most complete victory that ever crowned British valour in India. Of the enemy 12,000 were killed and wounded; and Gen. Wellesley lost 1,657—one-third of his little force—killed and wounded. Assaye is 261m. N. W. of Hyderabad. ASSAYING, a term originally applied to the trying or test ing of ores and alloys for their contents of gold or silver. Later it has received a wider significance; from meaning to test any ore or metallurgical product, in order to find its proportion of valuable constituents, it has even been extended to cover the determination of alkaloids (q.v.) in plants. It will, however, be used in this article in a metallurgical sense only. It is essentially a commercial process, hence the difference between assaying and chemical analysis. Analysis is an end in itself : the greater the accuracy, the more satisfactory is the result. In assaying it is desired to determine the value of a material, and a degree of accuracy which exceeds that required to obtain this value is uneconomical for it requires excessive time and care which might be more valuably employed. This does not mean that great accuracy is never required, as the value of the substance to be determined must be taken into account. For example, in the assay of ores, iron is usually reported to o.1%, whereas platinum may be carried beyond an accuracy of o.000i%.

The origin of the art is lost in antiquity. The trial by "Touch stone" and by "Fire" are mentioned by Theophrastus (371 288 B.c. ), and the early alchemists were well acquainted with such processes as precipitation, cupellation, etc., which are still in everyday use. The earliest known books on assaying were published in Germany at the beginning of the 16th century. The most interesting of these is Agricola's De Re Metallica, which devotes considerable space to the subject.

Assaying is closely allied to the metallurgical industry. In early times it was merely a small-scale smelting operation, and followed the large-scale processes in detail. Hence the "Dry" or "Fire" assays originated, in which the assay sample was smelted in a small crucible with suitable reagents, using a wood or charcoal furnace. The simultaneous development of chemistry led to the introduction of analytical or "Wet" methods, which are now used for the majority of metals. The old smelting, or "Fire" assay, has survived for some materials, and is still the only method available for the determination of gold and silver in ores.

The trial by "Touchstone," or "Lydian stone," to estimate the gold proportion of alloys, probably dates from the time of the Lydians (500 B.e.) . The colour of the streak made on a black stone by the metal under examination, was compared with similar streaks made by "needles" of metal of known composition, called "Touchneedles." These needles were used in sets, one of golden-silver alloys, another of gold-copper alloys, and a third of "Triple" alloys, containing gold, silver, and copper. Touch needles were introduced later for testing silver-copper alloys.