It's my understanding if a person agrees to fight then it's legal. So if they say "hit me" does that mean it's legal for a person to hit them? What if they obviously mean it in a sarcastic way, or taunting? Is it legal for them to hit the person back if they didn't agree to get hit?
I ask because I've seen a lot of videos were reporters heckle celebrities and normal people, and when they get agitated they say "hit me" or "go ahead, take a swing". Would it be illegal if they did?
This is going to vary by state to some degree. The Wisconsin battery law says in part:
(1) Whoever causes bodily harm to another by an act done with intent to cause bodily harm to that person or another without the consent of the person so harmed is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
(2) Whoever causes substantial bodily harm to another by an act done with intent to cause bodily harm to that person or another is guilty of a Class I felony.
And the terms are defined like this:
“Bodily harm" means physical pain or injury, illness, or any impairment of physical condition.
“Substantial bodily harm" means bodily injury that causes a laceration that requires stitches, staples, or a tissue adhesive; any fracture of a bone; a broken nose; a burn; a petechia; a temporary loss of consciousness, sight or hearing; a concussion; or a loss or fracture of a tooth.
So it would seem that one could present a defense of "they consented" if bodily harm was inflicted, but not if great bodily harm was inflicted. If they were being obviously sarcastic, then that's not really consent.
In the UK you can use consent as a defence against "Common Assault", which is an assault that does not cause significant injury. Any more serious assault is a crime regardless of consent.
There are specific exceptions to this for medical treatment, sports and decorative things like tattooing and piercing.
This became an issue thanks to Operation Spanner in which a group of men engaged in sadomasochism were convicted of assaulting each other. The "victims" were also convicted of "aiding and abetting" on the grounds that their consent had assisted the perpetrators.
The judgements in this case have been criticised for the disparity with similar ones involving heterosexuals.
It's my understanding if a person agrees to fight then it's legal.
You are wrong.
So if they say "hit me" does that mean it's legal for a person to hit them?
No.
What if they obviously mean it in a sarcastic way, or taunting?
Still no.
Is it legal for them to hit the person back if they didn't agree to get hit?
A person can use physical force in self-defense, if necessary and proportional. But, they can't hit someone to punish someone for hitting them if the threat to their person has ended.
I ask because I've seen a lot of videos were reporters heckle celebrities and normal people, and when they get agitated they say "hit me" or "go ahead, take a swing". Would it be illegal if they did?
It would be illegal if they did.
That includes you giving permission for someone to hit you if, without that permission, their doing so would be illegal.
There are circumstances where it is legal to hit people, for example, in the context of a sporting event like boxing, football or another contact sport. Or in self-defence which does not extend to punching someone who provokes you: you must have a reasonable fear of immanent (or actual) violence and self-defence is limited to the minimum force necessary to resolve the threat (what this is depends on jurisdiction).
Punching someone who merely says "hit me" or "go ahead, take a swing" would be illegal, however, if the entire circumstances were such that the person to whom this was said had a reasonable apprehension of immanent violence then self-defence may make this legal. Similarly, punching someone who has hit you first is only lawful if the purpose of your punch is to stop them hitting you again or to place them under arrest for the crime of hitting you - if they hit you and ran away you are not permitted to use violence against them because you are no longer in danger unless you are subjecting them to reasonable force in the course of making an arrest.
Battery | Wex Legal Dictionary / Encyclopedia | LII / Legal Information ... https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/batteryDefinition.
In criminal law, a physical act that results in harmful or offensive contact with another's person without that person's consent.
In tort law, the intentional causation of harmful or offensive contact with another's person without that person's consent.
With consent the act is not illegal. That is the law.
