evidence standard used in American tort litigation, although the latter is extremely similar in practice to the balance of probabilities standard. Similar to the constitutional presumption of innocence in Indian criminal law, the burden of proof is on the plaintiff in tort actions in India. India, like the majority of common law jurisdictions in Asia and Africa, does not permit the use of juries in civil or criminal trials, in direct contrast to America and the Canadian common law provinces which retain civil juries as well as to jurisdictions like England and Wales or New Zealand which permit juries in a limited set of tort actions. Categories of torts Trespass to the person A trespass, or offence, to the person is any tort characterised by harming or threatening to harm an individual's body. This category of tort is closely related to criminal law as the grounds giving rise to a claim for each tort in this category generally constitutes grounds for prosecution under the penal code.. In contemporary Indian tort law, there are three torts of this variety: Assault: While it is typically defined by case law in England or other common law jurisdictions, assault in Indian tort law (and in jurisdictions such as Singapore, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Malaysia who adopted the Indian penal code at the formation of the Straits Settlements or the dissolution of the British Indian Empire) is based on the definition provided in section 351 of the penal code. In accordance with the penal code, Indian courts have held that to constitute assault it is not necessary that there should be some actual hurt caused. A threat constitutes assault. Per section 351, the following criteria constitute assault: Making of any gesture or preparation by a person in the presence of another. Intention or knowledge of likelihood that such gesture or preparation will cause the person present to apprehend that the person making it is about to use criminal force on him. Battery: The criteria for battery in Indian tort law is equivalent to that of criminal force defined in Section 350 of the Indian Penal Code: "Whoever intentionally uses force to any person, without that person's consent in order to the committing of any offence or intending by the use of such force he will cause injury, fear, or annoyance to the person to whom the force is used is said to use criminal force to