Grounded 12-yr-old Appeals her Punishment and Wins

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Posted By: Lawrence Gridin June 18, 2008

A 12-year-old Quebec girl who was grounded by her father appealed her punishment to the Quebec Superior Court, according to the AFP.

The girl was grounded for disobeying her father’s orders to stay off the Internet after she was caught chatting on websites he had blocked. She was also apparently posting “inappropriate pictures” of herself online. The punishment: she would not be allowed to go on an upcoming school trip.

Justice Suzanne Tessier today agreed with the girl’s position that the punishment meted out by her father was too harsh. The court overturned the grounding.

Kim Beaudoin, the father’s lawyer, is appealing the decision.

“She’s a child,” Beaudoin told AFP. “At her age, children test their limits and it’s up to their parents to set boundaries.”

“I started an appeal of the decision today to reestablish parental authority, and to ensure that this case doesn’t set a precedent,” she said. Otherwise, said Beaudoin, “parents are going to be walking on egg shells from now on.”

Thus begineth a new era in family law litigation.

I didn’t realize that an appellate system was in place for parents’ rules. The more you know!

About the Author

Lawrence Gridin
Lawrence Gridin is currently a law student at the University of Western Ontario, graduating in the class of 2010. He completed his Bachelor of Science at the University of Toronto, majoring in Psychology and History. Lawrence volunteers at Western's Community Legal Services and has participated in the clinic's outreach program. His diverse interests include social justice, 20th century history, photography, boxing, and politics.

5 Comments on "Grounded 12-yr-old Appeals her Punishment and Wins"

  1. Jacob Kaufman | June 19, 2008 at 6:03 pm |

    I believe that the decision was grounded in the “right to party” as articulated by Diamond, Yauch, and Horovitz JJ.

  2. Lawrence Gridin | June 19, 2008 at 6:30 pm |

    This is not common law. The grounding must be found in the Quebec Civil Code somewhere.

    Check Chapter IX, paragraph 11: right to abuse the court system to get back at one’s parents.

    See also Chapter IX paragraph 42: right to pursue arbitration over one’s allowance.

  3. Jacob Kaufman | June 19, 2008 at 11:55 pm |

    True, but I couldn’t manage to fit a Beastie Boys joke into the Code civil du Québec.

  4. Lawrence Gridin | June 20, 2008 at 1:34 pm |

    You obviously didn’t see Chapter XXI, which deals almost exclusively with the Beastie Boys.

    Kaufman, I suggest you do your research.

  5. Jewelz | July 15, 2008 at 3:55 pm |

    After reading the articles …
    I think the judge and lawyer need to:
    a) be forced to take Sociology 101 and Youth-Psych 101 classes
    b) attend a Parenting Boot Camp
    c) be thrown in a disrespecting-teens-den (akin to the lions’ den) for 365 days
    d) be given a free pass to an ideal world to get inspired and see what they need to work towards
    e) be forced to participate in a reality show, as part of a dysfunctional family, in which they either make things work and win $1M or loose their current jobs

Comments are closed.