Early modern English political theorists and jurists often described the right to defend oneself as the

first law of nature. Philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes and John Locke described a world without
government or law as a state of nature, a primitive and dangerous world in which each person could
use deadly force whenever they judged it necessary. In such a world each person was judge, jury, and
executioner. Society and government were designed to provide the security and certainty unavailable
in the state of nature. In exchange for the benefits of living in a world governed by the rule of law,
individuals, with a few well-defined exceptions, gave up the right to use deadly force. English common
law, the collected body of legal decisions, which interpreted the meaning of Englands unwritten
constitution, spelled out these exceptions in considerable detail. Individuals were legally obliged to
retreat from attack and were not allowed to stand and fight, unless retreat was physically impossible.
The only exception to the legal requirement that one flee was in ones home. Deadly force was
justified in repelling violence in ones home, but even in this case, one had to demonstrate that one
had no other alternative to repel or subdue ones attacker.

English political theorists and jurists usually delineated the right to defend oneself as the first law of
nature.

Self-Help
Redressing or preventing wrongs by one's own action Without Recourse to legal proceedings.
Self-help is a term in the law that describes corrective or preventive measures taken by a private
citizen. Commonexamples of self-help include action taken by landlords against tenants, such as
eviction and removal of property from thepremises, and repossession of leased or mortgaged goo
ds, such as automobiles, watercraft, and expensive equipment.Persons may use self-help remedie
s only where they are permitted by law. State and local laws permit self-help incommercial transa
ctions, TORT and Nuisance situations, and Landlord and Tenant relationships.
Self-help is permissible where it is allowed by law and can be accomplished without committing
a breach of the peace. Abreach of the peace refers to violence or threats of violence. For example
, if a person buys a ship financed by a mortgage,the mortgage company may repossess the ship if
the buyer fails to make the mortgage payments. If the buyer is presentwhen the ship is being take
n away and the buyer objects to the repossession, the mortgage company breaches the peace ifit c
an repossess the ship only through violence or the threat of violence. In such a case, the mortgag
e company would beforced to file suit in court to repossess the ship. Repossessors attempt to circ
umvent objections by distracting or deceivingthe defaulting party during the repossession.
A majority of states have banned self-help by landlords in the eviction of delinquent tenants. The
se legislatures havedetermined that the interests of the landlord in operating a profitable business
must be balanced against a tenant's need forshelter. In place of the self-help remedy, states have d
evised expedited judicial proceedings for evictions. Theseproceedings make it possible for a land
lord to evict a tenant without unacceptable delays while giving the tenant anopportunity to presen
t to a court arguments against eviction.
In states that give landlords the right of self-help, landlords may evict a tenant on their own only
if they can do so in apeaceful manner. The precise definition of peaceful varies from state to state
. In some states any entry by a landlord thatdoes not involve violence or a breach of the peace is
acceptable. In other states any entry that is conducted without thetenant's consent is illegal.

In any case, if a landlord evicts a tenant through self-help, the eviction must be performed reason
ably. For example, alandlord may not nail plywood across the entrance to a tenant's second-story
apartment while the tenant is inside and thenremove the steps leading up to the apartment. One la
ndlord who performed such self-help faced criminal penalties after thetrapped tenant and her two
-year-old daughter needed the help of the local fire department to escape the apartment. Alandlor
d who violates laws on self-help may face criminal charges and a civil suit for damages filed by t
he tenant.
One new form of self-help that poses interesting problems is self-help by providers of computer s
oftware. Businesses in theUnited States that use computers have become dependent on computer
software. Sometimes when disputes have arisenbetween the buyer of software and the software p
rovider, software providers have disabled the buyer's software from aremote location. In one case
a software supplier called Logisticon entered into a contract with Revlon Group to provide itwith
computer software. After a dispute arose between the two parties, Logisticon accessed Revlon's s
oftware system anddisabled it, causing Revlon to suffer $20 million in product delivery delays. R
evlon brought suit against Logisticon, allegingthat Logisticon had violated the contract and that i
t had misappropriated Revlon's trade secrets. The two parties settled thesuit out of court, and the
terms of the settlement remain undisclosed.
Self-help measures are controversial because they amount to taking the law into one's own hands
. Opponents of self-helplaws argue that they encourage unethical and sometimes illegal practices
by creditors and that they diminish public respectfor the law. Proponents counter that self-help, if
performed peaceably, is a valuable feature of the justice system because itgives creditors an oppo
rtunity to alleviate losses and keeps small, simple disputes from glutting the court system.

Further readings
Bell, Tom W. 2003. "Free Speech, Strict Scrutiny, and Self-Help: How Technology Upgrades Co
nstitutional Jurisprudence."Minnesota Law Review 87 (February).
Fischer, Julee C. 2000. "Policing the Self-Help Legal Market: Consumer Protection or Protection
of the Legal Cartel?"Indiana Law Review 34 (winter).
Gerchick, Randy G. 1994. "No Easy Way Out: Making the Summary Eviction Process a Fairer a
nd More EfficientAlternative to Landlord Self-Help." UCLA Law Review 41 (February).
Gitter, Henry. 1993. "Self-Help Remedies for Software Vendors." Santa Clara Computer and Hi
gh Technology Law Journal 9(November).

Cross-references
Secured Transactions.
West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All
rights reserved.

self-help
n. 1) obtaining relief or enforcing one's rights without resorting to legal action, such as repossessi
ng a car when paymentshave not been made, retrieving borrowed or stolen goods, demanding an
d receiving payment, or abating a nuisance (such asdigging a ditch to divert flooding from anothe

r's property). Self-help is legal as long as it does not "break the public peace" orviolate some othe
r law (although brief trespass is common). 2) the maximizing of one's opportunities.
Both the Municipal Trial Court and the Regional Trial Court have rationalized petitioner's drastic
action of bulldozing and destroying the crops of private respondents on the basis of the doctrine of
self-help enunciated in Article 429 of the New Civil Code. 11 Such justification is unavailing because the
doctrine of self-help can only be exercised at the time of actual or threatened dispossession which is
absent in the case at bar. When possession has already been lost, the owner must resort to judicial
process for the recovery of property. This is clear from Article 536 of the Civil Code which states, "(I)n no
case may possession be acquired through force or intimidation as long as there is a possessor who
objects thereto. He who believes that he has an action or right to deprive another of the holding of a thing,
must invoke the aid of the competent court, if the holder should refuse to deliver the thing."

"The law of self-defense justifies an act done in the reasonable belief of

immediate danger. If an injury was done by a defendant in justifiable selfdefense, he can neither be punished criminally nor held responsible for
damages in a civil action," the Court of Appeals said in a 1941 case.