State v. Warshow

State v. Warshow, Supreme Court of Vermont, 410 A.2d 1000 (1980), is a criminal case that set forth conditions for a defense of necessity in civil disobedience during political protests. Four requirements were described that apply to other necessity defenses.

The court wrote: "# There must be a situation of emergency arising without fault on the part of the actor concerned;
 * 1) this emergency must be so imminent and compelling as to raise a reasonable expectation of harm, either directly to the actor or upon those he was protecting;
 * 2) this emergency must present no reasonable opportunity to avoid the injury without doing the criminal act;
 * 3) the injury impending from the emergency must be of sufficient seriousness to outmeasure the criminal wrong."