The next example of where these two codes demonstrate both similarities and small differences is with the subject of assault and battery. .
There is a situation regarding this topic that involves a senator named Bert, who is attacked by a frustrated homeless man named Don. Don had intended to draw attention to his problem by confronting the senator, but ended up drawing the attention of two police officers after he had punched the senator outside his office. Under Justinian Code Don would be penalized for his actions and would be obligated to face greater consequences then those that another senator would have to face if had done what Don did. This would happen because the Justinian Code says that the accused person's punishment rises and falls according to the class and character of the victim. The punishment of the assailant can also change depending on weather the victim chooses to charge the person with a civil remedy (where the victim makes the assailant pay the amount of money that he or she sees fit) or a criminal indictment (where the victim leaves it to the judge to decide what the appropriate punishment should be).
Although under California Code Don would not have had to suffer a punishment worse then that of someone of a higher class then him, it still would have been able to change based on the category it was put under. An attack can either be considered as an assault or a battery. In Don's situation, because he not only attempted to cause Bert injury, but then ended up using force to harm him as well, his attack would have been considered a battery. There fore, his punishment would have been that he would be charged with a fine of around $2,000, or with imprisonment in jail for around six months, or with both, the fine and imprisonment. If it were left up to me, the law regarding assault and battery would be that if either of the two were committed, then the attackers punishment would be left to the victim to decide.
