Department of Private and Property Law

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Browsing Department of Private and Property Law by Subject "African culture"

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    An Examination of Child's Rights and the Principles of Corporal Punishment
    (Redeemer's University Law Journal, 2019) Adepoju, Adebiyi Anthony
    In different entities across the nations, parents, and others apply corporal punishment on children for wrongdoing. Corporal punishment is a system of discipline mechanism in which supervising adult deliberately inflicts pain upon a child in response to a child's unacceptable behavior. Africans cherish certain culturalized ways of training children among which is to spank, whip, swat or paddle children to punish them for their wrongdoing. The Holy Bible commands parents not to withhold correction from the child, because if beaten him with the rod, such shall not die. Following this biblical injunction, punishing children by an adult as reiterated in the same chapter of the bible encourages supervising adults or parents to spank, because such shall deliver a child's soul from hell. The motive behind all these correcting mechanisms has been argued to be in the best interest of the child. If beating, spanking, and other corrective mechanisms are in the best interest of the child, to what extent should a parent or guardian beat a child to train them as prescribed by culture and religious mandate? Were the law to permits beating a child, it is needful to ascertain what level of beating is acceptable under the law to prevent the commission of another offense. These are what this paper has attempted to answer. The paper concludes on a strong notion that parents, teachers, and guardians need not to necessarily beat up a child before giving such a child best training.