Spare the Rod
Spare the Rod
Campbell and Cosans v United Kingdom
This chapter explores the Campbell and Cosans case involving Jane Cosans, mother of the fifteen-year-old Jeffrey Cosans, and Grace Campbell, mother of the six-year-old Gordon Campbell. Both women protested the use of corporal punishment as a disciplinary measure in their children's schools. The mothers lodged the case before the European Commission for Human Rights (ECHR), claiming that corporal punishment was both degrading and inhumane, and thus a violation of Article 3 of ECHR's Protocol 1. As a defence, the state schools, through the UK government, argued that the Scotland's domestic law and the 1968 Code of Practice provided adequate safeguards against such punishment. The ECHR rejected the claim of the mothers. The mothers then appealed the case before the European Court of Human Rights, yet it was subsequently dismissed.
Keywords: Campbell and Cosans case, Jane Cosans, Jeffrey Cosans, Grace Campbell, Gordon Campbell, corporal punishment, European Commission for Human Rights, Scotland's domestic law, 1968 Code of Practice, European Court of Human Rights
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