If somebody broke in during the night I'd probably sleep right through it... I don't have my dogs with me. That was the good thing about having dogs, I had them trained to not bark unless something seriously out of the ordinary was going on. It was sort of easy to get them to understand, every time they barked I got up but if it was just some coyotes or a stray dog or somebody walking by I talked to them in a manner that let them know it wasn't worth the bother and I went back to bed. Those two dogs were great watchdogs eventually. One was half coyote and not prone to barking that much, the other was terrier mix... My neighbors said that when all the dogs barked they ignored it but if my dogs barked they got up to check things out.. we were in a very high crime area and didn't have any breakins for several houses either side of us. The one house on the block that had an electronic alarm and no dog got broken into though.
I don't think English courts will treat this any differently than the US courts, to be fair. At least based on the precedent. In fact, they appear to be even more lenient in the UK, as pursuing and beating the sh1t out of intruders after the fact is deemed "reasonable defence".
Yep, I was just giving an example... The fundamental principles in English law are the same (i.e. you don't need to "confirm" the intruder's hostile intentions before defending yourself and your property), apart from the fact that it's ultimately up to the court to establish whether the actions were performed in "reasonable self-defence". What the court decides depends on the circumstances of the case. P.S.: The exact formulation is that you can act if you're in "your own home and in reasonable fear for yourself or others", I believe. And yes, acting may include killing the intruder.
If you believe the court in the UK would allow for shooting an intruder for being inside your house, then we are in agreement. Because in Florida, a perpetrator in your house gives you permission to use deadly force. It's called the Castle Law (a man's home is his castle). Now, let's discuss the right to own firearms in the UK vs here
Well, you have to be in fear for yourself. If you can prove to the court that you were in fear just because the intruder was in your house, then you acted in reasonable self-defence. British law is, generally, precedent-based (common law), so I guess that's the aspect that makes things unclear and ambiguous. However, that's just the way the legal system works. As to the right to own firearms, I actually don't care. Either way is fine with me and every society is free to make its own choices. I have no problem with the way it's dealt with in the US.
That's where it comes from actually, English common law which gave rise to the phrase,"An Englishman's home is his castle." Immigrants to America dropped the English part when they came over. Today "An Englishman's home is his toilet" lol