English is generally ambiguous on these matters, when one tries to translate it into more precise logical terms. In the US version of this:
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
We can read the last clause as “Cruel and unusual punishments shall not be inflicted.” But it is ambiguous in common use whether this outlaws punishments that are both cruel and unusual, or if it outlaws both cruel punishments and unusual punishments.
Historically, the Supreme Court has interpreted merely cruel punishments as violations of the Eighth Amendment (According to Wikipedia) but I’m not sure about ‘unusual’.
English is generally ambiguous on these matters, when one tries to translate it into more precise logical terms. In the US version of this:
We can read the last clause as “Cruel and unusual punishments shall not be inflicted.” But it is ambiguous in common use whether this outlaws punishments that are both cruel and unusual, or if it outlaws both cruel punishments and unusual punishments.
Historically, the Supreme Court has interpreted merely cruel punishments as violations of the Eighth Amendment (According to Wikipedia) but I’m not sure about ‘unusual’.
IANAL.