# Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018, Section 1: Abusive behaviour towards partner or ex-partner


(1) A person commits an offence if—
(a) the person (“A”) engages in a course of behaviour which is abusive of A's partner or ex-partner (“B”), and
(b) both of the further conditions are met.
(2) The further conditions are—
(a) that a reasonable person would consider the course of behaviour to be likely to cause B to suffer physical or psychological harm,
(b) that either—
(i) A intends by the course of behaviour to cause B to suffer physical or psychological harm, or
(ii) A is reckless as to whether the course of behaviour causes B to suffer physical or psychological harm.
(3) In the further conditions, the references to psychological harm include fear, alarm and distress.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2018/5/section/1 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/domestic-abuse-scotland-act-2018/section-1
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.