Wednesday, September 17, 2008

More harmful and offensive contact

So we started the tricky subject of implied consent today. The basic premise is that you can't be held liable for something that you were given consent to do. ex. A football player can't charge a quaterback for battery when he tackles him, although the contact may have been harmful. So here is the hypothetical. (note i don't remember the actual words this time. So i am making stuff up to get the main points of the conversation across.)

Mr. Smith, suppose a young man takes a young lady on a long romantic walk on the beach. The stars are out and it is simply breathtaking. The couple sit down and after a while. The young man leans in to kiss the young lady, but she doesn't respond at all, she just sits there with no change of expression or posture. The young man decides to kiss her anyway. The young lady later fills a suit of battery. Is it battery? there was definitley intentional contact, and the young lady certainly found it to be offensive. - Prof. Nunez

"well if the stars weren't out it would be a different story." He then proceeds to explain how our if a reasonable person would assume that the victim had implied consent then the victim has an oblibligation to voice any contrary opinions. "I think given the circumstances, any reasonable woman would assume she was about to be kissed." - Mr. Smith

"Ok, what if it was the first date?" - Prof. Nunez

"Considering she didn't even turn her head, she implied consent to be kissed." -Mr. Smith.

"So lets change the situation a little. The young lady is on the beach by her self and some stranger runs over and kisses her. Are we to assume she consented because she didn't turn her head?" - Prof. Nunez

This may not be as entertaining to some as it was to me. But having lived in California my whole life i am accustomed to seeing some of the most breathtaking women on our beaches. I could imagine the beach bums (which incidentily look like my blog profile picture) running around kissing these unsuspecting women.

1 comment:

The Blogsmith said...

haha nice. Of course a beach bum and a guy on a date would be different. The girl consented to go on the date, and whether its the first or the fifteenth, she carries the risk that the guy might advance on her. Therefore, by accepting the date the girl also accepts to responsibility to let the guy know where to draw the line.