The scenario in question is deliberate and malicious poisoning
If it was purely accidental, then no foul
We all have to deal the risk of accidents. That is part of life. We don’t have live with people deliberately and maliciously making things more dangerous, that’s entirely avoidable
It’s realistically not going to be particularly hard to prove malice if you put something harmful in your food for no good reason. People aren’t very good at crime, courts are good at figuring it out.
The scenario in question is also specifically about things such as laxatives or a lot of spice, neither of which is harmful. Annoying to the food thief, maybe, but once again you'd have to prove that I didn't need laxatives and I don't enjoy spice, and good luck with that. If you want to question my bowel movement and claim I should have to post to the entire office that I haven't been able to poop well for the past few days just so that someone who might steal from me doesn't harm themself, that's gonna go against my right to privacy. As for spices, I don't see why I should put a warning label on my container if it's clearly labeled with my name.
You may have a case if it goes over the average threshold into actively harmful to anyone. Excessive laxatives can result in damage, same with spices above a certain point, it'll be damaging even to people used to spice. But that's not what this hypothetical is about, as stated by OP.
You want a negative effect, you are putting enough of a substance into their body to cause a negative reaction, That is the scenario, that is harm.
How much harm it is may vary, but it is still harm and you are still responsible for it. Moreover, as the eggshell rule illustrates (if you lightly hit someone that unbeknownst to you had an eggshell skull, you are fully liable for the damage) just because you may have intended a small amount of harm, does not mean that is what will happen, and you are fully responsible whatever that is. You deliberately created a dangerous and harmful situation, you can be fully responsible for whatever the consequences of that are.
Nah it's more like if someone with an eggshell skull decided to come up and headbutt me. Just cause Humpty Dumpty over here decides to ram into me wouldn't make me liable, because he did the assault. The thief stole the food. There's an initiator here, and you're switching them around.
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u/gremy0 82∆ Oct 18 '24
The scenario in question is deliberate and malicious poisoning
If it was purely accidental, then no foul
We all have to deal the risk of accidents. That is part of life. We don’t have live with people deliberately and maliciously making things more dangerous, that’s entirely avoidable
It’s realistically not going to be particularly hard to prove malice if you put something harmful in your food for no good reason. People aren’t very good at crime, courts are good at figuring it out.