Rape in Marriage
"Partnership of equals"
The ruling by Britain’s Law Lords that a husband who forces
his wife to have sex is acting unlawfully and could face charges of rape has
been greeted as a triumph by women’s rights campaigners and victims of sexual
abuse in marriage.
The Law Lords have looked again at a ruling dating back to
1736 which said that by marrying, the woman had given her consent to sex
whatever the circumstances. That, said the Law Lords, was no longer appropriate
in a modern marriage which is a partnership of equals. A man who in future
insists on conjugal rights can be prosecuted for marital rape.
(A News by The BBC, on October 1991)
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