Corporal punishment was not banned in Britain twenty five years ago next year. It is still perfectly legal between consenting adults in private. It can still be applied by parents to children providing that it is not excessive and no marking is caused. It was until very recently perfectly legal in a scholastic environment, provided that the school or class was held outside normal school hours, eg for faith instruction or other special purposes, and that those conducting it were held by the parents or guardians of children attending to be acting ‘in loco parentis’. Indeed this latter may still be legal, although when the situation was publicised very recently the government said they would take urgent steps to correct the legislative oversight.

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