Self-defense under intention of Tort Law is, that amount of force which is reasonable to defend yourself in any given situation. For example, if someone attacked you with a baseball bat; it may or may not be proper for you to shoot them with a gun, but certainly if you had a baseball bat that may be deemed adequate force to protect yourself from another bat. Some states allow you to defend yourself right away, that is majority rule and that is California. Other states have a retreat to the wall rule, those states say that before you can defend yourself, you must first try and run and retreat to the wall, but once you are cornered then you have the right to defend yourself.