ABSTRACT
In early English law, physical interference with the person was given special protection, partly to avoid the unhappy consequences of people taking the law into their own hands by revenge attacks. Until the abolition of the old forms of action in the 19th century, direct attacks upon the person were protected by the action of trespass, which required no proof of damage. Indirect interference with the person was protected by the action on the ‘case’, which did require proof of damage.
