ABSTRACT
One of the concepts that runs through all fields of the law is that of the reasonable person. The function of the reasonable person is to serve as a standard against which real human actions are measured for legal purposes. If the jury concludes that a reasonable person in that position would have acted at least as strongly as did the defendant, then the defense of self-defense has been established. If, on the other hand, the jury should find that the reasonable person faced with the defendant’s situation would have taken some less drastic action, then the defense of self-defense has failed. One of the major problems of using the reasonable person is that lawyers can end up with some very unreasonable results. The problem with the reasonable person is that it is a person who lacks any emotions; the reasonable person does not know irrational fear; or engage in irrational actions.
