Canada: court overturns parent’s grounding of 12-year-old

by Walter Olson on June 19, 2008

The father wouldn’t let her go on a school trip because he said she’d been acting up, including using a friend’s account to post inappropriate pictures on a dating site. “But [Quebec Superior Court] Justice Suzanne Tessier, who was presiding over the case, found the punishment too severe.” The mother, who is divorced from the father, was supporting the girl; the school’s policy was that both parents’ permission was required for such trips. According to a lawyer involved in the case, the father has legal custody but the girl has been living with her mother for the past month. (AFP/FoxNews.com, Globe and Mail, Eugene Volokh). Plus: Token Conservative suggests a new writ of “habeas bratus”.

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Conservative Compendium » Child’s Punishment Overturned By Canadian Court
06.20.08 at 4:49 pm
Update: “Quebec dad sued by daughter after grounding loses his appeal”
04.16.09 at 12:26 am

{ 3 comments }

1 Deoxy 06.20.08 at 10:35 am

Sadly, that would be the moment I would wash my hands of my (most unfortunate) child. If the state will control everything, then I have no say, and I won’t be around to take the blame for their mistakes.

It would certainly be an aweful thing, but in such a case, the state has already taken custody, so you might as well formalize it.

2 EarlW 06.20.08 at 2:19 pm

This was part of an ongoing custody battle. The mother suggested taking the father to court since the school required both signatures on the permission slip.
I believe the father has now relinquished custody, on the basis that he no longer has control of his childs behaviour.

3 Donna 06.21.08 at 1:46 am

What a stupid judge and what a stupid mom. That Dad had every right to ground his child for bad behaviour.
I say kudos to the dad for actually trying to be a parent.

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