Anyone study Law and Martial Arts?

[ps1]

Look for a book (I think a DVD now) titled, "Law and Martial Arts" by Carl Brown.

Mr. Brown is an attorney, author and judo instructor.

That's good info whitematt! Thanks for the book.

[jaymac]

A police officer came to our dojo once to talk about this subject. He said everyone has the right to defend themselves, but you have to prove that it was in self defense. He said, if someone comes to you and is trying to hit you (no weapon) and you inadvertantly kill him with Martial Arts, you can be charged with manslaughter. If this same guy had a weapon and was putting your life at risk, it would be a different scenerio, but one you would still have to justify use of excessive force.

[throwdown]

It all depends on where you live.

In Canada the most applicable defenses would be:

SELF-DEFENSE AGAINST A PROVOKED ATTACK

and

SELF-DEFENSE AGAINST AN UN-PROVOKED ATTACK

[mbsushi]

Just bought The Law and Martial Arts By Carl Brown

[pegasi]

It has been my understanding that there is a line between self defense and taking the offensive.

It has been explained to me that if you are grabbed or otherwise attacked, and you choose to execute a couple kicks that ends up knocking him down on the ground, if, at this moment, you choose to execute any further techniques, you have just changed from being a defender to being an attacker. However, if he gets up to hit you more, you can, of course, still defend yourself without being considered to have "crossed the line."

In other words, once your attacker is down, he is not an immediate threat (in the eyes of the law), so any further action on your part has just crossed the line from defense to offense, thus making you open to legal action as an aggressor.

So, to me, what this means is that when one is attacked, once you have rendered the aggressor unable to continue their attack (and you can get away), any further action on your part then changes your legal status from victim to aggressor, for any actions you take after that point where your attacker became unable to continue the attack. But, if the person gets up and attacks again, you can still defend yourself without having gone too far, since they were too stupid to stop after one round of getting taken out.

[bushido_man96]

It has been my understanding that there is a line between self defense and taking the offensive.

It has been explained to me that if you are grabbed or otherwise attacked, and you choose to execute a couple kicks that ends up knocking him down on the ground, if, at this moment, you choose to execute any further techniques, you have just changed from being a defender to being an attacker. However, if he gets up to hit you more, you can, of course, still defend yourself without being considered to have "crossed the line."

In other words, once your attacker is down, he is not an immediate threat (in the eyes of the law), so any further action on your part has just crossed the line from defense to offense, thus making you open to legal action as an aggressor.

So, to me, what this means is that when one is attacked, once you have rendered the aggressor unable to continue their attack (and you can get away), any further action on your part then changes your legal status from victim to aggressor, for any actions you take after that point where your attacker became unable to continue the attack. But, if the person gets up and attacks again, you can still defend yourself without having gone too far, since they were too stupid to stop after one round of getting taken out.

That is a pretty good explanation. It is for these reasons that it is important to be able to justify your actions, and then be able to articulate them in court, if need be.

Let's say that you knock an attacker down, and then he tries to get up, and you start backing away. Good idea; from here, the fight may be over. However, what if he gets up, and pulls a knife as he is standing up? Now, you may be justified to continue defending yourself, especially if he is saying some choice things to you as he tries to get up.

Justification, and articulation, are the keys.

[KNOCKuOUT]

Black Belt magazine actually had a two part article on this. Try to look it up on their website. It was in the past fewmonths. I don't really remember which ones.

[bushido_man96]

Black Belt magazine actually had a two part article on this. Try to look it up on their website. It was in the past fewmonths. I don't really remember which ones.

Yeah, it was the last two issues. They were decently informative, written by a couple of Martial Artists that are also lawyers. They talk about some of the generalities to expect, and also give some examples of the difference between some states.