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Imagine you are eating dinner at a fancy restaraunt with your wife and three daughters, aged 7, 11, and 16…

A patron at the table behind you shoves himself in between you and your wife. He boasts in a foreign accent, “How much for the little girl?”. You say “What?”. He says “How much for the women? I want to buy your women. How much for them?”

A few minutes later, he leans over again and asks “Your wife… How much for your wife? I want to buy your wife.” He slaps your back, laughs, and leans back.

Are you legally allowed to punch him in the face in this scenario?

What level of physical altercation is appropriate?

Would it still be the same if he had never touched you at all, but simply got in your face?

In case someone accuses me of trolling, this is the scene from Blues Brothers that I am talking about (starts at 3:24) https://youtu.be/BHzUhBkEMq4?si=TFRvYu5K9z0-UXyG

nick carraway
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2 Answers2

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You may only use reasonable force in self-defense.

Consequently, though the man could be arrested for assault and battery, you are not legally justified in initiating force until he acts in a manner that a reasonable person would say is dangerous enough that punching him is proportionate to the danger.

Whether you would be convicted, or charged, or even arrested, is another matter, to be sure.

Mary
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Depends on where this happens.

In , insults are theoretically considered an attack on the honor/dignity of the victim, and a present, unlawful attack allows self-defense by suitable, necessary means to stop this attack. The courts would usually not find the punch an appropriate response to this kind of verbal insult, but the "misguided defender" might argue that the punch was excessive self-defense out of fear or confusion (which is not punishable, §33 StGB).

But that is a lot of "could" and "might" judged on the specifics of the case. If the court decides that §34 StGB applies, the perpetrator would be required to apply a stricter test of proportionality in the countermeasures.

o.m.
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