the _New
English Dictionary_, however, favours the derivation from Lat. _corpus_,
Ital. _corpo_, body), a non-commissioned officer of infantry, cavalry
and artillery, ranking below a sergeant. This rank is almost universal
in armies. In the 16th and 17th centuries there were corporals but no
sergeants in the cavalry, and this custom is preserved in the three
regiments of British household cavalry, the rank of sergeant being
replaced by that of "corporal of horse," and that of sergeant-major by
"corporal-major." In the 16th and early 17th centuries the title
"corporal of the field" was often given to a superior officer who acted
as a staff-officer to the sergeant-major-general. In the navy the
"ship's corporal," formerly a semi-military instructor to the crew, is
now a petty officer charged with assisting the master-at-arms in police
duties on board ship.

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT, chastisement inflicted by one person on the body
(_corpus_) of another. By the common law of England, Scotland and
Ireland, the infliction of corporal punishment is illegal unless it is
done in self-defence or in defence of others, or is done either by some
person having punitive authority over the person chastised or under the
authority of a competent court of justice. Corporal punishment in
defence of self or others needs no comment, except that, like all other
acts done in defence, its justification depends on whether or not it was
reasonably necessary for the protection of the person attacked. Among
persons invested with punitive authority, mention must first be made of
parents and guardians, and of teachers, who have, by implied delegation
from the parents, and as incidental to the relation of master and pupil,
powers of reasonable corporal punishment. Such powers are not limited to
offences committed by the pupil upon the premises of the school, but
extend to acts done on the way to and from school and during what may be
properly regarded as school hours (_Cleary_ v. _Booth_, 1893, 1 Q.B.
465). The rights of parents, guardians and teachers, in regard to the
chastisement of children, were expressly recognized in English law by
the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act 1904 (S 28). Poor law
authorities and managers of reformatories are in the same position in
this respect as teachers. The punitive authority of elementary school
teachers is subject to the regulations of the education authority: that
of poor law authorities to the regulatio