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20 Clev. St. L. Rev. 75 (1971)
Threats as Criminal Assault

handle is hein.journals/clevslr20 and id is 83 raw text is: Threats as Criminal Assault Ranelle A. Gamble* T HE MORES, GROUP SANCTIONS and religious ethics of a society attempt to regulate interactions between humans as harmoniously as pos- sible. But it sometimes requires the intervention of formal legal au- thority to maintain a semblance of peace in the community by punish- ing disapproved conduct. All too frequently, social interaction leads to conduct that is tortious or criminal. Early in its history, the common law found it imperative to acknowledge and define an individual's in- terest in his personal integrity, physical safety and mental tranquility. The law formulated the legal rules of assault to protect this particular interest when it is wrongfully interfered with by another.' In this latter half of a nerve-wracking twentieth century, it is becoming nec- essary to revive the early concepts of common law assault, and under certain circumstances,2 to redress abusive and insulting language. Any principle of common law, particularly one concerned with the control of human behavior, has social implications, and such principle, whether dealing with a tort or a crime, must advance or retreat ac- cording to the social need.3 Outrageous behavior, encompassing overt antisocial acts and abusive language, is once again being recognized by the authorities to be a legal as well as a social problem. Assault as a Tort and a Crime Assault can be a tort, a crime, or both simultaneously if the de- fendant's act falls within the scope of liability for both. Manslaughter, as a form of homicide, is, of course, punished as a crime. Manslaughter is the result, or harm, of an act defined by statute or common law as criminal, or as otherwise unlawful. The following questions then arise: Can manslaughter be the result of a mere tort?; Is the death of the victim limited to the legal liability for wrongful death, essentially * B.A., New York University; Second-year student at Cleveland State University College of Law. 1 See Prosser, Law of Torts, § 3, Social Engineering (3d ed. 1964). 2 Wade, Tort Liability for Abusive and Insulting Language, 4 Vand. L. Rev. 63, 101 (1950): A rule to this effect would merely be restating a condition which existed in the days of the very beginning of the common law, when certain vituperative names were treated in the same way as assaults and when the law of defamation sought to redress insults as well as to protect reputation. It may seem retrogressive, a return to more barbaric times, to restore the rules of the middle ages. Instead, it has been called a mark of a more advanced civilization that tort liability affords protection against abusive language. 3 Reckless, The Crime Problem, C. 2 at 19 (3d. ed. 1961). It is the scheme of social values current in any society that dictates the importance or unimportance or the sacredness or profanity of any activity in society .... The social values assigned to different kinds of behavior vary in time and place, and this is true of behavior that becomes defined as criminal in our criminal laws.

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