In the 1860 Eastbourne manslaughter case, Alexander Cockburn as Chief Justice ruled: "By the law of England, a parent ... may for the purpose of correcting what is evil in the child, inflict moderate and reasonable corporal punishment, always, however, with this condition, that it is moderate and reasonable."
[2] In England and Wales, section 58 of the Children Act 2004 enables parents to justify common assault or battery of their children as "reasonable punishment", but prevents the defence being used in relation to Assault occasioning actual bodily harm (i.e. when causing anything beyond "transient and trifling" such as bruising) and any more serious harm.
[1] In law in the Republic of Ireland, the rule of law allowing "physical chastisement" by teachers was abolished in 1997,[3] and the common-law defence of "reasonable chastisement" by parents and guardians was abolished in 2015.
[6][2][7] By the end of the 1870s the right of a husband to chastise his wife had generally met with disapproval in the US, even in states which formerly agreed to the practice.
[6] Courts did overrule the common-law principle that a husband had the right to "physically chastise an errant wife".