“Self-defense is a right and an affirmative defense codified in Civil Code section 50 that provides: Any necessary force may be used to protect from wrongful injury the person or property of oneself, or of a wife, husband, child, parent, or other relative, or member of one’s family, or of a ward, servant, master, or guest. Self-defense is often classified as a form of privilege to the effect that one has a privilege to act in self-defense. Nevertheless, the affirmative defense of self-defense arises in its specialized circumstances and is appropriately treated on its own terms for purposes of consideration of the rules governing its status as an affirmative defense.”
[California Affirmative Defenses [certain citations omitted]]
