Regina V. Burstow Regina V Ireland (1997) was the appeal of two presidential cases in

English law English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, be ...

with the question as to whether or not psychiatric injury was considered 'bodily harm' under Section 47 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

Facts

R v Ireland

R v Ireland consisted of Mr. Robert Ireland making a large number of telephone calls to three separate women. Ireland would not speak during the calls and rang often late at night. He was convicted under Section 47 Actual Bodily Harm of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and his case was appealed to the then presiding court,

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

R v Burstow

In the case of R v Burstow, Anthony Burstow

stalking Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring them. The ter ...

and

intimidation Intimidation is to "make timid or make fearful"; or to induce fear. This includes intentional behaviors of forcing another person to experience general discomfort such as humiliation, embarrassment, inferiority, limited freedom, etc and the victi ...

campaign against his ex-partner for eight months. Making silent phone calls, transmitting menacing messages, physically following her and photographing her and her family. The victim suffered a sever depressive illness as a result. Burstow was convicted of

Grievous bodily harm Grievous bodily harm (often abbreviated to GBH) is a term used in English criminal law to describe the severest forms of battery. It refers to two offences that are created by sections 18 and 20 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. The ...

contract to Section 20 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. He appealed his case to the

on the grounds that silence cannot amount to

Assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

Bodily harm Bodily harm is a legal term of art used in the definition of both statutory and common law offences in Australia, Canada, England and Wales and other common law jurisdictions. It is a synonym for injury or bodily injury and similar expressions, t ...

Ruling

The defendant appealed, sending the case to the

which, pre-

Constitutional Reform Act 2005 The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c 4) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, relevant to UK constitutional law. It provides for a Supreme Court of the United Kingdom to take over the previous appellate jurisdiction of the Law Lo ...

and the founding of the

United Kingdom Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC or the acronym: SCOTUK) is the final court of appeal in the United Kingdom for all civil cases, and for criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. As the United ...

, was the highest court in the land. The decision to convict the defendant Ireland was upheld by the House of Lords, finding assault in English law can be found without verbal interaction.

Lord Steyn Johan van Zyl Steyn, Baron Steyn, PC (15 August 1932 – 28 November 2017) was a South African-British judge, until September 2005 a Law Lord. He sat in the House of Lords as a crossbencher. Early life and education Steyn was born in Stellen ...

said The decision in Burstow was that the word 'inflict' as in 'inflict bodily harm' can be interperated as 'caused' and thus does not require any proof of a direct application of force. As sever psychological illnesses could therefore become Grievous Bodily Harm even though no physical 'bodily force' was ever inflicted. The Lords additionally noted that as an assault is the fear of violence, it must be a fear of immediate violence, as in 'within a minute or two'.

References

{{reflist

External links

House of Lords Judgement Index

Offences Against The Person Act 1861
English law English case law Offences against the person House of Lords cases