Laws Relating To Self Defence By Martial Art

I need to talk about self-defense legislation before I can teach personal safety. The criminal law legislation of 1967 has these provisions. These regulations specify “Any force employed in self-defense must be reasonable and necessary at the moment. The force used must be appropriate to the harm avoided.”

So, let’s have a look at what this means for our clients. To prevent a crime, a person may use reasonable force in the circumstances. The law specifies that the use of force must be REASONABLE. If a person honestly believes it is essential to defend themselves or another, they may use force.

Force may be used for:

• Self-defense;
• Defense of another;
• Defense of property;
• Prevention of a crime;
• Lawful arrest.

Use of force must be necessary and should only be used as a last resort, in a conflict situation; you should first try to talk the situation down in order to bring the conflict to a successful resolution. Verbal and nonverbal communication skills must be practiced with our clients so they learn to be assertive and send out the right signals, which may put a potential attacker off. Body Language is also very important and this normally says more than words. Target hardening means using your body language to look more confident; this makes you a harder target for a potential mugger or bully.

Any unnecessary force can never be reasonable. It must also be stated that a person can use force to ward off an anticipated attack, as long as the person believes an attack is imminent – they do not have to wait, they can strike first, a pre-emptive strike. This is stated in common law-

USE OF FORCE: If you have an honestly held belief that you or another are in imminent danger then you may use such force that is reasonable and necessary to avert that danger.

Section 3 Criminal Law Act states:

A person may use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances in the prevention of a crime or in effecting or assisting in the lawful arrest of offenders or persons unlawfully at large.”

Other Acts:

• The Human Rights Act 1998;
• Article 2: The Right For Life;
• Article 8: The Right To Respect For Private And Family Life.

Lastly, what is reasonable force? I teach, just enough force to enable you to make your escape to safety.