It Depends On What The Meaning of "Reasonable" Is

I've blogged a few times recently on a case in UK where a homeowner was jailed for beating up a burglar: here and here.

We have a further follow-up today, and it appears that the battle in the future will be over what the word "reasonable" means in cases of self-defense and home defense.

It's a fundamental philosophical battle, and one that was fought in the US during the 70's and 80's; in the US, with the election of Ronald Reagan, the Supreme Court began to move away from the criminal-coddling days of the Warren court and toward a more strict law-enforcement interpretation of the Constitution. It has culminated in the court we have now, with most decisions favoring homeowners and especially gun owners over criminals. UK is at the very beginning of the process of taking the country back from the criminals, and it won't start until Gordon Brown and the Labour criminal-coddlers he leads go down in flames at the next UK election.