6. A headmaster at a state school would, prior to the abolition of corporal punishment in state schools, have had the right of “reasonable corporal punishment” delegated to him by virtue of his office.
7. Before the abolition of corporal punishment in state schools, a headmaster might have been able to call upon two defences to a charge of battery: that he was acting in loco parentis by virtue of his office, or that he was acting in loco parentis by virtue (if this was indeed the case) of an explicit delegation by the parent.