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Casebook Read Credits
Torts
Resource 1 . 1 . 4
13 minutes

Garratt v. Dailey

Kathleen,
Mary R Ziegler,
Molly Flash

            Battery is an intentional tort. But what does the law mean by intent?

            In this case, a child, Brian Dailey, took a chair as his aunt tried to sit down. She fell to the ground and hurt herself. What would it mean for Brian to have intent? Must have he wanted for his aunt to fall? To get hurt? Does intent in tort law mean the same thing you might expect to see in criminal law—or in daily life? And why does tort law define intent the way it does?

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