Part 5Miscellaneous
Other provisions
58Reasonable punishment
1
In relation to any offence specified in subsection (2), battery of a child cannot be justified on the ground that it constituted reasonable punishment.
2
The offences referred to in subsection (1) are—
a
an offence under section 18 or 20 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 (c. 100) (wounding and causing grievous bodily harm);
b
an offence under section 47 of that Act (assault occasioning actual bodily harm);
c
an offence under section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (c. 12) (cruelty to persons under 16).
3
Battery of a child causing actual bodily harm to the child cannot be justified in any civil proceedings on the ground that it constituted reasonable punishment.
4
For the purposes of subsection (3) “actual bodily harm” has the same meaning as it has for the purposes of section 47 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861.
5
In section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, omit subsection (7).