Reasonable Force

Jack Straw promises to increase the protection against prosecution for people who confront burglars or muggers. I hope that what he is talking about is a clarification of the existing law, rather than new legislation. The law already allows a person to use 'reasonable force' in such a situation, and defines this as the force necessary to deal with the level of threat. Moreover, the law goes further. It says that in judging whether the force used was reasonable, the court shall take the level of threat as it appeared at the time to the person using it. The word 'shall' in legislation is about as strong as you can get. It' something you have to do.
So I'm all in favour of clarifying the law, especially so that prosecutions aren't brought unless there is serious doubt about the force used. I'm not in favour of new legislation extending the present right. That, it seems to me is sanctioning 'unreasonable force'.