Husbands open to rape charge?
NZPA London A husband should become liable to prosecution for raping his wife, according to a working paper on sexual offences published by the Criminal Law Revision Committee in Britain.
The committee said the present British raw was based on the subjection of the wife to the husband which was "totally out of accord with present-day attitudes.” It was difficult to explain why wives should be outside the protection of the law of rape when unmarried cohabitees were not. said the committee
Other proposals were: —To abolish the offence of buggery by a man on a consenting woman above a specified age. —To relax the law on incest where both parties were above a certain age. —To abolish the existing legal presumption that a boy u nder 14 was not capable of rape. —Not to consider intercourse with a stepchild as incest.
The committee, headed by Lord Justice Lawton, was made up mostly of lawyers and judges. They emphasised that the proposals were tt.dative, and that final views would depend on reaction to the paper.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19801110.2.43
Bibliographic details
Press, 10 November 1980, Page 5
Word Count
180Husbands open to rape charge? Press, 10 November 1980, Page 5
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.