Children Bill [HL] — 5 Jul 2004 at 14:30
moved Amendment No. 106:
After Clause 48, insert the following new clause-
"REASONABLE CHASTISEMENT
(1) Battery of a child cannot be justified in any proceedings on the grounds that it constituted lawful punishment.
(2) Battery of a child is not unlawful if the act amounts to the use of reasonable force in order to-
(a) avert an immediate danger to the child or any other person;
(b) avert an immediate danger to property; or
(c) prevent the commission of a crime, or an act which would be a crime if the child had reached the age of criminal responsibility.
(3) For the purpose of subsections (1) and (2) above "child" means a person under the age of 18.
(4) Section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (c. 12) (cruelty to persons under sixteen) is amended as follows.
(5) In subsection (7) at end insert "subject to subsection (8) below".
(6) After subsection (7) insert-
"(8) Corporal punishment administered to a child cannot be justified in any proceedings on the ground that it was administered in pursuance of a right exercisable by virtue of subsection (7) above.
(9) For the purpose of subsection (8) above, administering corporal punishment to a child means doing anything for the purpose of punishing that child which would constitute unlawful battery."
(7) This section extends to England and Wales only."
On Question, Whether the said amendment (No. 106) shall be agreed to?
Their Lordships divided: Contents, 74; Not-Contents, 249.
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