... occasioning actual bodily harm. A case to show actus reus for battery would be Cole v Turner (1704) where the judge stated, "In an action for battery, the least touching of another in anger is a battery. If two people meet in a narrow passage, there is no battery if one gently touches the other without violence or harm. But if one uses violence to force his way rudely past the other, that is a battery." The actus reus may be not an act but rather a failure to act, sometimes referred to as an omission. An example of this would be in R v Pittwood (1902) when the level crossing keeper left open the crossing gate. This resulted in the death of a carter whose cart was struck by a train. D was convicted of manslaughter because he had a responsibility to make sure the crossing gate was closed. Mens rea ...

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