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Criminal Code Act 1983
27Circumstances in which force not being such force as is likely
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27 Circumstances in which force not being such force as is likely
to cause death or serious harm is justified
In the circumstances following, the application of force is justified
provided it is not unnecessary force and it is not intended and is not
such as is likely to cause death or serious harm:
(a) to lawfully execute any sentence, process or warrant or make
any arrest;
(b) to prevent a person who is being or who has been lawfully
arrested from escaping or from being rescued;
(c) to prevent the continuance of a breach of the peace or a
renewal of it and to detain any person who is committing or
about to join in or to renew the breach of the peace for such
time as may be reasonably necessary in order to give him into
the custody of a police officer;
(d) to suppress a riot;
(e) to prevent the commission of an offence;
(k) in the case of a person who is entitled by law to the
possession of moveable property, or a person acting by his
authority, and who attempts to take possession of it from a
person who neither claims right to it nor acts by the authority
of a person who claims right to it and the person in possession
resists him, to obtain possession of the property, provided he
does not intentionally do him harm;
(p) in the case of a parent or guardian of a child, or a person in
the place of such parent or guardian, to discipline, manage or
control such child;
(pa) to prevent a person reasonably believed to be attempting to,
or about to, kill himself, from killing himself;
(q) in the case of the person in command of a ship on a voyage or
an aircraft on a flight, or a person acting by his authority, to
maintain good order and discipline on board the ship or
aircraft;
(r) to assist a person to do any of the things aforesaid.
Criminal Code Act 1983 22