Legal Definition and Related Resources of Aggressor

He who begins a quarrel or dispute, either by threatening or striking another. No man may strike another because he has been threatened, or in consequence of the use of any words.

What does Aggressor mean in American Law?

The definition of Aggressor in the law of the United States, as defined by the lexicographer Arthur Leff in his legal dictionary is:

The aggressor in a fight or other incident is the one who “starts up,” or who at least “keeps it going” after the other has sought to stop things. In various legal contexts the “aggressor” is considered the culpable, or more culpable, person involved in an unlawful happening.

Hidden in this otherwise straightforward definition, however, are grievously difficult questions of causation and blame. When two small boys are separated after a schoolyard altercation, they are both likely to say “He started [it],” and both likely to be sincere. Boy A means that Boy B called him “a fairy,” and Boy B means that Boy A, untouched, punched him in the mouth. Similarly, in an International Law context, Lebanon will accuse Israel of being “the aggressor,” i.e., that it moved and used its armed forces across the Lebanese border, while Israel will call Lebanon “the aggressor,” i.e., that Lebanon allowed, and even aided the movement of non-Lebanese

terrorists across the Israeli border.

The central hidden questions of “aggression,” therefore, are not causal or factual; in any reasonably close case it is too easy to point to some activity on the part of the other party which “really” started the altercation which led to, say, the other party’s death. The real question is what actual causes will be allowed, i.e., in ethics and law, to count as justifications for another’s infliction of injury. It may sometimes be necessary to be quite arbitrary, e.g., “mere words never justify physical assault.” At other times detailed definitions may have to be used, e.g., “Only the following acts of a government, known to be willful and intentional, shall justify armed invasion:

(1) . .. .

Altogether, no particular allocation of the epithet “agressor” is likely to satisfy everyone in any reasonably close case. But it should be recalled that not all cases are close, and the man in a bar who, having had his opinion of the Red Sox quietly contradicted, cleaves the skull of the speaker, is without a doubt, for any relevant legal purpose, the “agressor.”

Browse

You might be interested in these references tools:

This definition of Aggressor Is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This entry needs to be proofread.

Vocabularies (Semantic Web Information)

<

noun

• antagonist
• assailant
• assailer
• assaulter
• attacker
• belligerent
• besieger
• combatant
• contender
• criminal
• fighter
• foe
• initiative seizer
• invader
• militant
• prime mover
• provocator
• ravager
• ruffian
• stormer
• violator

Aggressor