## Facts

- Mr. and Mrs. Cole sued Turner in trespass for battery after an encounter in a narrow passage.
- The parties came into close proximity while attempting to pass one another in the confined space.
- The Coles alleged Turner jostled or pushed past them, causing nonconsensual physical contact.
- The case turned on whether the contact was merely incidental to passing or was rude, violent, or hostile in manner.

## Issues

1. Whether any physical touching of another constitutes civil battery.
2. Whether battery requires a hostile or angry character to the contact, as opposed to ordinary, nonviolent incidental touching.
3. Whether forcing one’s way through a confined passage with excessive or rude force constitutes battery even if the contact is slight.

## Decision

- Judgment for the plaintiffs in principle to the extent the touching was done in anger or with violence, rather than as ordinary incidental contact.
- The court stated that the least touching of another in anger is a battery.
- The court stated that gentle touching in a narrow passage, without violence or design of harm, is not a battery.
- The court stated that using violence to force one’s way in a rude and excessive manner, or engaging in a struggle to a degree that may do hurt, is a battery.

## Legal Principles

- Battery may be established by minimal physical contact if the contact is hostile, angry, or violent in character.
- Ordinary social contact and incidental touching occurring without violence or design to harm are not actionable as battery.
- Context and manner control: contact in a confined space may be privileged as inevitable if gentle and non-aggressive, but becomes tortious when accompanied by rude, excessive force or struggle.
- The existence of significant bodily injury is not required; the actionable wrong lies in nonconsensual, hostile physical interference.

## Conclusion

The case drew a line between inevitable incidental contact and tortious battery, holding that slight touching becomes actionable when done in anger or with violence, while gentle contact without violence or intent to harm in ordinary movement through a confined space is not a battery.


Cole v. Turner, 6 Mod. 149 (K.B. 1704)