what is the the defination of corporal punishment?

Answer 1

Any punishment that involves physical contact (spanking, whipping, flogging, etc.).

Answer 2

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporal_punishment

"Corporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of pain intended as correction or punishment. Historically speaking most punishments, whether in judicial, domestic or educational settings were corporal in basis. The practice is generally held to differ from torture in that it is applied for disciplinary reasons and is therefore intended to be limited, rather than intended to totally destroy the will of the subject. The physical and psychological effects of certain severe or prolonged forms of corporal punishment are more or less indistinguishable from those of torture.

In the modern world, the corporal punishment has been largely rejected in favour of other disciplinary methods. Modern judiciaries often favour fines or incarceration, whilst modern school discipline avoids physical correction. Although corporal punishment is still used in many domestic settings it has been banned in seventeen countries."