The Eastbourne manslaughter was an 1860 legal case in Eastbourne, England, concerning the death of 15-year-old Reginald Cancellor at the hands of his teacher, Thomas Hopley. Hopley intended to use corporal punishment to overcome what he perceived as stubbornness on Cancellor's part, but instead he beat the boy to death. An inquest into Cancellor's death began when his brother requested an autopsy. As a result of the inquest Hopley was arrested and charged with manslaughter. He was found guilty at trial and sentenced to four years in prison, although he insisted that his actions were justifiable and that he was not guilty of any crime. The trial was sensationalised by the Victorian press, and incited debate over the use of corporal punishment in schools. After Hopley's release and subsequent divorce trial, he largely disappeared from the public record. The case became an important legal precedent in the United Kingdom for discussions of corporal punishment in schools and reasonable limits on discipline. (more...)
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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
476:
Germanic leader Odoacer captured Ravenna, the capital of the Western Roman Empire, and deposed Emperor Romulus Augustus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odoacer
1781:
Los Angeles was founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula by 44 Spanish settlers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles
1843:
Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies married Pedro II of Brazil at a state ceremony. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_Cristina_of_the_Two_Sicilies
1957:
Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus deployed the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine African American students from attending Little Rock's Central High School. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas_National_Guard_and_the_Integration_of_Central_High_School
1998:
Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in Menlo Park, California, to promote the web search engine that they developed as Stanford University students. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google
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