Legal Definition and Related Resources of Grievous Bodily Harm

Injuries more serious in nature than that which would result in simple battery . See state v Lewis, 491 P.2d 1062, 6 Wash.App. 38.

Browse or run a search for Grievous Bodily Harm in the American Encyclopedia of Law, the Asian Encyclopedia of Law, the European Encyclopedia of Law, the UK Encyclopedia of Law or the Latin American and Spanish Encyclopedia of Law.

Grievous Bodily Harm in Historical Law

You might be interested in the historical meaning of this term. Browse or search for Grievous Bodily Harm in Historical Law in the Encyclopedia of Law.

Search for legal acronyms and/or abbreviations containing Grievous Bodily Harm in the Legal Abbreviations and Acronyms Dictionary.

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Grievous bodily harm in Law Enforcement

Main Entry: Law Enforcement in the Legal Dictionary. This section provides, in the context of Law Enforcement, a partial definition of grievous bodily harm.

Resources

See Also

• Law Enforcement Officer
• Police Work
• Law Enforcement Agency

Further Reading

• grievous bodily harm in A Dictionary of Law Enforcement (Oxford University Press)
• grievous bodily harm in the Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement
• A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis

English Legal System: Grievous Bodily Harm

In the context of the English law, A Dictionary of Law provides the following legal concept of Grievous Bodily Harm : (GBH)

Serious physical injury. Under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 there are several offences involving grievous bodily harm. It is an offence, punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment, to inflict (by direct acts) grievous bodily harm upon anyone with the intention of harming them (even only slightly); if the intention was merely to frighten the victim the defendant is guilty of *assault and *battery. It is an offence, punishable by a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, to cause grievous bodily harm to anyone with the intention of seriously injuring them or of resisting or preventing lawful arrest. “Causing” in this offence includes indirect acts, such as pulling a chair away from a person so that he falls and breaks his arm. If a person intends to cause grievous bodily harm but his victim actually dies, he is guilty of murder, even though he did not intend to kill him. Causing grievous bodily harm may also be an element in some other offence, e.g. *burglary. The courts have said that judges should not attempt to define grievous bodily harm for the jury, but should leave it to them, in every case, to decide whether the harm caused was really serious.

See also wounding with intent.