Ben Livings

A Different Ball Game—Why the Nature of Consent in Contact Sports Undermines a Unitary Approach

The criminal offences to which consent may act as a defence fall into three distinct groups: those against property, sexual offences against the person and non-sexual offences against the person. This article posits a counterpoint to calls for a consistent application of the defence across the various offences to which it may apply, exploring the role of consent as it applies as a defence to violent criminal assaults, and particularly those committed during sport. It further examines the way in which the civil courts have approached consent in largely similar contexts, when assessing claims in negligence arising from personal injury caused by violence in the sporting arena, and juxtaposes and compares the civil and criminal approaches. Sport can provide problematic and anomalous situations with regard to the law, and it is submitted that this is better acknowledged in the civil law, where the courts have more readily considered revisions to substantive legal principles.