In an early judgment of the Constitutional Court, S v Williams, Justice Langa
found that judicial whippings were unconstitutional because they violated
young offenders’ rights to dignity and humane treatment. Former Chief
Justice Langa was also a member of the unanimous court that found the law
prohibiting corporal punishment in schools to be a reasonable and justifiable
infringement of their parents’right to religious freedom. However, s 12 of the
South African Constitution guarantees everyone the right to be protected
from all forms of violence, either from public or private sources. This
contribution considers how the court might deal with a challenge to the
constitutionality of the common-law defence of reasonable chastisement,
which permits corporal punishment of children by their parents in their own
homes.