English Law of Consent to Harm: Outline and Case Summaries

Abstract

This paper outlines the English law of consent to criminal harm. Through case summaries, it explains the rules regarding consent to assault, battery, actual bodily harm (ABH), and grievous bodily harm (GBH). Relevant cases date from 1934 to 2019. Quotations from the cases, including famous judicial pronouncements, are incorporated into the discussion. The outline and case summaries are intended to succinctly and accurately explain the law. Consent can legalise acts that would otherwise amount to assault or battery. ABH and GBH cannot lawfully be consented to, according to a general rule. However, the law recognises exceptions for sport, dangerous exhibitions (daredevils), horseplay, surgery, tattooing and piercing, religious ritual (flagellation or circumcision), and knowingly risking the contraction of sexually transmitted diseases. The law explicitly disallows consent to sadism and street fighting. The courts have also suggested that consent by its nature must be free and informed, not made in an atmosphere of fear, desperation, deception, or by one who lacks legal capacity. In particular, fear and desperation can mean that apparent consent is “mere submission” and not legally real. Finally, the paper offers readers a one-page summary of the case law.