[b]§ 505. Use of force in self-protection.[/b]
[b](a) Use of force justifiable for protection of the person.[/b]--
The use of force upon or toward another person is justifiable
when the actor believes that such force is immediately necessary
for the purpose of protecting himself against the use of
unlawful force by such other person on the present occasion.
[b](b) Limitations on justifying necessity for use of force.[/b]--
(1) The use of force is not justifiable under this
section:
(i) to resist an arrest which the actor knows is
being made by a peace officer, although the arrest is
unlawful; or
(ii) to resist force used by the occupier or
possessor of property or by another person on his behalf,
where the actor knows that the person using the force is
doing so under a claim of right to protect the property,
except that this limitation shall not apply if:
(A) the actor is a public officer acting in the
performance of his duties or a person lawfully
assisting him therein or a person making or assisting
in a lawful arrest;
(B) the actor has been unlawfully dispossessed
of the property and is making a reentry or recaption
justified by section 507 of this title (relating to
use of force for the protection of property); or
(C) the actor believes that such force is
necessary to protect himself against death or serious
bodily injury.
(2) The use of deadly force is not justifiable under
this section unless the actor believes that such force is
necessary to protect himself against death, serious bodily
injury, kidnapping or sexual intercourse compelled by force
or threat; nor is it justifiable if:
(i) the actor, with the intent of causing death or
serious bodily injury, provoked the use of force against
himself in the same encounter; or
(ii) the actor knows that he can avoid the necessity
of using such force with complete safety by retreating or
by surrendering possession of a thing to a person
asserting a claim of right thereto or by complying with a
demand that he abstain from any action which he has no
duty to take, except that:
(A) the actor is not obliged to retreat from his
dwelling or place of work, unless he was the initial
aggressor or is assailed in his place of work by
another person whose place of work the actor knows it
to be; and
(B) a public officer justified in using force in
the performance of his duties or a person justified
in using force in his assistance or a person
justified in using force in making an arrest or
preventing an escape is not obliged to desist from
efforts to perform such duty, effect such arrest or
prevent such escape because of resistance or
threatened resistance by or on behalf of the person
against whom such action is directed.
(3) Except as required by paragraphs (1) and (2) of this
subsection, a person employing protective force may estimate
the necessity thereof under the circumstances as he believes
them to be when the force is used, without retreating,
surrendering possession, doing any other act which he has no
legal duty to do or abstaining from any lawful action.
[b](c) Use of confinement as protective force.[/b]--The
justification afforded by this section extends to the use of
confinement as protective force only if the actor takes all
reasonable measures to terminate the confinement as soon as he
knows that he safely can, unless the person confined has been
arrested on a charge of crime.
[b]§ 506. Use of force for the protection of other persons.[/b]
[b](a) General rule.[/b]--The use of force upon or toward the
person of another is justifiable to protect a third person when:
(1) the actor would be justified under section 505 of
this title (relating to use of force in self-protection) in
using such force to protect himself against the injury he
believes to be threatened to the person whom he seeks to
protect;
(2) under the circumstances as the actor believes them
to be, the person whom he seeks to protect would be justified
in using such protective force; and
(3) the actor believes that his intervention is
necessary for the protection of such other person.
[b](b) Exceptions.[/b]--Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this
section:
(1) When the actor would be obliged under section 505 of
this title to retreat, to surrender the possession of a thing
or to comply with a demand before using force in self-
protection, he is not obliged to do so before using force for
the protection of another person, unless he knows that he can
thereby secure the complete safety of such other person.
(2) When the person whom the actor seeks to protect
would be obliged under section 505 of this title to retreat,
to surrender the possession of a thing or to comply with a
demand if he knew that he could obtain complete safety by so
doing, the actor is obliged to try to cause him to do so
before using force in his protection if the actor knows that
he can obtain complete safety in that way.
(3) Neither the actor nor the person whom he seeks to
protect is obliged to retreat when in the dwelling or place
[b]§ 507. Use of force for the protection of property.[/b]
[b](a) Use of force justifiable for protection of property.[/b]--
The use of force upon or toward the person of another is
justifiable when the actor believes that such force is
immediately necessary:
(1) to prevent or terminate an unlawful entry or other
trespass upon land or a trespass against or the unlawful
carrying away of tangible movable property, if such land or
movable property is, or is believed by the actor to be, in
his possession or in the possession of another person for
whose protection he acts; or
(2) to effect an entry or reentry upon land or to retake
tangible movable property, if:
(i) the actor believes that he or the person by
whose authority he acts or a person from whom he or such
other person derives title was unlawfully dispossessed of
such land or movable property and is entitled to
possession; and
(ii) (A) the force is used immediately or on fresh
pursuit after such dispossession; or
(B) the actor believes that the person against
whom he uses force has no claim of right to the
possession of the property and, in the case of land,
the circumstances, as the actor believes them to be,
are of such urgency that it would be an exceptional
hardship to postpone the entry or reentry until a
court order is obtained.
[b](b) Meaning of possession.[/b]--For the purpose of subsection
(a) of this section:
(1) A person who has parted with the custody of property
to another who refuses to restore it to him is no longer in
possession, unless the property is movable and was and still
is located on land in his possession.
(2) A person who has been dispossessed of land does not
regain possession thereof merely by setting foot thereon.
(3) A person who has a license to use or occupy real
property is deemed to be in possession thereof except against
the licensor acting under claim of right.
[b](c) Limitations on justifiable use of force.[/b]--
(1) The use of force is justifiable under this section
only if the actor first requests the person against whom such
force is used to desist from his interference with the
property, unless the actor believes that:
(i) such request would be useless;
(ii) it would be dangerous to himself or another
person to make the request; or
(iii) substantial harm will be done to the physical
condition of the property which is sought to be protected
before the request can effectively be made.
(2) The use of force to prevent or terminate a trespass
is not justifiable under this section if the actor knows that
the exclusion of the trespasser will expose him to
substantial danger of serious bodily injury.
(3) The use of force to prevent an entry or reentry upon
land or the recaption of movable property is not justifiable
under this section, although the actor believes that such
reentry or caption is unlawful, if:
(i) the reentry or recaption is made by or on behalf
of a person who was actually dispossessed of the
property; and
(ii) it is otherwise justifiable under subsection
(a)(2).
(4) (i) The use of deadly force is justifiable under
this section if:
(A) there has been an entry into the actor's
dwelling;
(B) the actor neither believes nor has reason to
believe that the entry is lawful; and
(C) the actor neither believes nor has reason to
believe that force less than deadly force would be
adequate to terminate the entry.
(ii) If the conditions of justification provided in
subparagraph (i) have not been met, the use of deadly
force is not justifiable under this section unless the
actor believes that:
(A) the person against whom the force is used is
attempting to dispossess him of his dwelling
otherwise than under a claim of right to its
possession; or
(B) such force is necessary to prevent the
commission of a felony in the dwelling.
[b](d) Use of confinement as protective force.[/b]--The
justification afforded by this section extends to the use of
confinement as protective force only if the actor takes all
reasonable measures to terminate the confinement as soon as he
knows that he can do so with safety to the property, unless the
person confined has been arrested on a charge of crime.
[b](e) Use of device to protect property.[/b]--The justification
afforded by this section extends to the use of a device for the
purpose of protecting property only if:
(1) the device is not designed to cause or known to
create a substantial risk of causing death or serious bodily
injury;
(2) the use of the particular device to protect the
property from entry or trespass is reasonable under the
circumstances, as the actor believes them to be; and
(3) the device is one customarily used for such a
purpose or reasonable care is taken to make known to probable
intruders the fact that it is used.
[b](f) Use of force to pass wrongful obstructor.[/b]--The use of
force to pass a person whom the actor believes to be
intentionally or knowingly and unjustifiably obstructing the
actor from going to a place to which he may lawfully go is
justifiable, if:
(1) the actor believes that the person against whom he
uses force has no claim of right to obstruct the actor;
(2) the actor is not being obstructed from entry or
movement on land which he knows to be in the possession or
custody of the person obstructing him, or in the possession
or custody of another person by whose authority the
obstructor acts, unless the circumstances, as the actor
believes them to be, are of such urgency that it would not be
reasonable to postpone the entry or movement on such land
until a court order is obtained; and
(3) the force used is not greater than it would be
justifiable if the person obstructing the actor were using
force against him to prevent his passage.
of work of the other to any greater extent than in his own.
arrested on a charge of crime.
