The differences between an assaults as opposed to a battery:

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The differences between an assaults as opposed to a battery:

Assault and battery are both intentional torts against persons. However, they have certain differences. An assault is a threat; it is committed when someone “engages in conduct which places another in fear of receiving a physical harm.” A battery is committed when someone “causes bodily harm to an individual,” or “makes physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with an individual.”

The main difference between the two offenses is the existence or nonexistence of a physical contact. While contact is an essential element of battery, there must be an absence of contact for assault.  In Criminal Law, an assault may additionally be defined as any attempt to commit a battery because when someone commits battery they usually have the intent to harm, and threaten the person before committing the physical act.

Some of major Differences between an assaults as opposed to a battery is as follows:

	Assault	Battery
Justification	Self-defense or defense, assault is defined as the threat of bodily harm that reasonably causes fear of harm in the victim	Self-defense, defense, necessity, battery is the actual unauthorized and harmful physical impact on another person.
Common Law	Intentional tort	Even a minor touching can qualify as batter providing it is painful, harmful, or offensive to the victim.
Important aspect	Threat of violence is enough to constitute assault; no physical contact is necessary	intentional physical contact with an individual is mandatory
Purpose	To threaten that causes fear of harm in the victim.	When someone commits battery they usually have the intent to harm.
Nature of crime	Not necessarily physical contact is necessary. The degrees of assault determine the range of punishment to be administered for the crime.	Degrees of battery include first degree, second degree, and third degree. Each degree describes how serious the crime may be and punishment is decided by level of crime.

References

FreeAdvice. (n.d.). What is the difference between assault and battery? Retrieved from Criminal Law: http://criminal-law.freeadvice.com/criminallaw/violent_crimes/assault_battery.html

Cheeseman, H. R. (2006). Torts and Privacy. In Contemporary Business and Online Commerce Law (5th edi). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Person Education Inc.