But the question
is not, what a captain ought generally to do, but whether it shall
be put out of the power of every captain, under any circumstances,
to make use of, even moderate, chastisement. As the law now stands,
a parent may correct moderately his child, and the master his
apprentice; and the case of the shipmaster has been placed upon the
same principle. The statutes, and the common law as expounded in the
decisions of courts, and in the books of commentators, are express and
unanimous to this point, that the captain may inflict moderate
corporal chastisement, for a reasonable cause. If the punishment is
excessive, or the cause not sufficient to justify it, he is
answerable; and the jury are to determine, by their verdict in each
case, whether, under all the circumstances, the punishment was
moderate, and for a justifiable cause.
This seems to me to be as good a position as the whole subject can
be left in. I mean to say, that no positive enactment, going beyond
this, is needed, or would be a benefit either to masters or men, in
the present state of things. This again would seem to be a case
which should be left to the gradual working of its own cure.
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