Also known as: reasonable apprehension test · reasonable-apprehension tests · reasonable apprehension
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A standard used to determine liability for assault. Words alone do not create liability unless combined with other acts or circumstances that cause the victim to reasonably apprehend an imminent harmful or offensive contact.
Silas retrieved a sharpened hay hook and positioned it inches from Francis's abdomen on the loading dock. He then executed a rapid thrusting motion directed at Francis's midsection and halted the hook just short of contact. Francis leaped backward in fear, believing an immediate stabbing was about to occur.
Peggy seized a boat hook and jabbed it quickly toward Jamie's midsection on the fishing vessel deck but stopped just short of contact. Jamie jerked sideways in response and crashed into crates. The action was intended only to create apprehension of harmful contact rather than to cause actual injury.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Max spun around in the software startup office, raised his heavy laptop over his head, stepped toward Lina, and shouted that he would smash it into her face right now. Coworkers intervened before any contact occurred. Lina believed the blow would land immediately.
Dr. Lee stepped very close to Nurse Diaz in the hospital hallway, held a used syringe inches from her face, and yelled that he should jab it into her. Diaz was terrified by the proximity and explicit threat of immediate contact. Other staff witnessed the encounter.
Luis angrily swung a pitchfork in a short arc toward Dana in the barn and stopped it about a foot from her torso while yelling that she was one step away from getting skewered. Dana gasped and froze in response to the sudden motion and threat.
Maria grabbed a heavy flashlight in the power plant control room, raised it from arm's length toward Lee's shoulder as if to strike, and began a swing while making a threatening statement. Lee froze, expecting to be hit immediately before an alarm interrupted the motion.
Conditional language does not prevent liability when the physical conduct combined with the words creates reasonable apprehension of imminent contact. The test focuses on whether the victim is put in apprehension of immediate harmful or offensive contact, and objective circumstances can satisfy the element even if the actor claims a future warning was intended.
Supporting sources
No. The test is satisfied when the actor's conduct causes the victim to reasonably apprehend imminent harmful or offensive contact. Actual contact is not an element of assault, and the absence of contact does not defeat the claim when the apprehension element is met.
Supporting sources
The victim's subjective reaction, such as leaping backward or freezing in fear, provides evidence that the required apprehension occurred. The test ultimately measures whether a reasonable person in the victim's position would apprehend imminent contact based on the actor's words and acts together.
Supporting sources
Yes. Self-defense permits an actor to use force intended only to create reasonable apprehension of harmful contact. When the actor deliberately stops short of contact and intends only to frighten the other party into halting an advance, the conduct remains privileged.
Supporting sources
…justify a flat rule of no inquiry and automatic acceptance of the claim of privilege. In determining whether the witness has a reasonable apprehension, the test in the federal courts has been that the judge is to decide from the circumstances of the case, his knowledge of matters surrounding the inquiry and the nature of the evidence…