‘Aggressing’ (from the Legal Principle: ‘don’t aggress’) is defined as:

1. Initiating nonconsensual physical force against another person or their property;
2. Engaging in fraud;
3. Engaging in coercion;
4. Creating a substantial risk or threat of initiating nonconsensual physical force against another person or their property;
5. Obstruction of justice or breaching another’s right to due process;
6. Breaching a valid contract;
7. Engaging in unreasonable conduct causing harm to another person or their property; or
8. Breaching a fiduciary duty.

An aggressor is a person, group, corporation, or government whose actions fall under any one of these eight definitions. Whoever aggresses first is always legally in the wrong. Some violations are severe enough to be considered criminal, while others should be considered civil violations.

Shorter ways to say it

• Simple definition: imposing upon someone’s body, autonomy, or property without consent. It’s doing something that creates a legal victim.
• A concise yet comprehensive definition: initiating, threatening, or creating a substantial risk of non-consensual physical force against another person or their property, as well as fraud, coercion, obstructing justice, or breaching a contract, or a fiduciary duty.
• An even simpler way to say it is that all involuntary transactions are aggressions, while all voluntary transactions are not.

Legal context

• In the context of the 3L Global Peace Movement, ‘aggressing’ is a ‘Term of Art’, meaning that it has a distinct legal meaning - in this case, ‘aggressing’ is a category of activity.

What is not ‘aggressing’