2. (b) That's probably wrong. Since it is pretty well impossible to avoid physical contact with others during everyday activities, everyone is presumed to consent to a certain amount of physical contact with others. Accordingly it is not normally battery when someone brushes or bumps against another in a crowded lift, passage or stairway.

But there are limits to this principle. If the contact takes place with a hostile motive, then the contact might constitute battery. Pushing impatiently or insistently through a crowd, or past a person is an example of 'hostile' intent. So when B pushes past A in his hurry and bumps him, this is likely to be battery.