Corpun file 24596 at www.corpun.com

Daily Mail, London, 2 February 1966, p.9

Caning for liars

Children face tougher court law

By Daily Mail Reporter

Click to enlarge

CHILDREN who tell lies in Isle of Man courts may be caned under a clause passed by the island Parliament's lower house yesterday.

The clause is one of 119 in a Children and Young Persons Bill which completed its closing stage in the House of Keys.

Isle of Man courts are the only ones in Britain that can order children to be beaten.

Under the existing law, boys aged from eight to 14 can receive a maximum of eight strokes of the cane.

The law applies also to visitors.

Mr. William Quayle, Independent, who had charge of the Bill, told the House of Keys : "This business of removing all the sting from juvenile courts, on which great play has been made in England, is one which might well have repercussions.

"There are times when the court has got to be tough. Some young villains have to be corrected, others have to be helped."

Corporal punishment was brought back in the island in the 1950s after a wave of summer hooliganism in Douglas, the capital.

The Manx Summary jurisdiction Act, which became law in 1960, raised the age for birching to 21 to check crime by older boys.

Mr. J. Crowe, Isle of Man secretary of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said: "I cannot comment on this clause because I do not know enough about it. But generally caning and birching are a good thing in proper circumstances."