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CORPOREAL Definition & Legal Meaning

Definition & Citations:

A term descriptive of such things as have an objective, material existence; perceptible by the senses of sight and touch ; possessing a real body. Opposed to incorporeal and spiritual. Civ. Code La. 1900, art 400; Sullivan v. Richardson, 33 Fla. 1, 14 South. 692. There is a distinction between “corporeal” and “corporal.” The former term means “possessing a body,” that is, tangible, physical, material; the latter means “relating to or affecting a body,” that is, bodily, external. Corporeal de notes the nature or physical existence of a body; corporal denotes its exterior or the coordination of it with some other body. Hence we speak of “corporeal hereditaments,” but of “corporal punishment,” “corporal touch,” “corporal oath,” etc

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