What Does It Take to Trespass on a Person’s Body?

In this article, I begin to develop an account of bodily trespass – a specification of the conditions under which one person infringes another’s right against bodily interference. I first offer a minimal account, intended to capture only the clear cases of bodily trespass. On this account, bodily trespass consists in either bodily touching or significant, non-psychologically-mediated bodily alteration. I then consider whether this account should be broadened to accommodate some plausible, though non-obvious, cases of bodily trespass. These are cases in which a bodily alteration is produced via psychological processes in the target. I argue that, in deciding whether to accommodate such cases within our account, we face a dilemma, and one of considerable practical significance.