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== Marital rape and the law ==

== Marital rape and the law ==

Within [[history]] can be seen the concept that marriage includes within it conjugal rights.  In Western culture this was often ascribed to the teaching of [[Saint Paul|St. Paul]]:''"Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control."''<ref>1 Corinthians v7, ch3-5, New King James Version Bible</ref>.  As a result of this passage the concept of marital rape was considered to be an impossibility, and this was codified by Sir Matthew Hale in the 1736 publication of his work ''Historia Placitorum Coronae, History of the Pleas of the Crown''.  Within this work Sir Hale wrote that marital rape could not exist: ''"But the husband cannot be guilty of a rape committed by himself upon his lawful wife, for by their mutual matrimonial consent and contract the wife hath given up herself in this kind unto her husband which she cannot retract."''<ref>''Historia Placitorum Coronae, History of the Pleas of the Crown'', Matthew Hale, Sir</ref>  However, it is important to note that Sir Hale wrote this as a matter of legal opinion, not a finding of legal fact, and so technically this concept did not pass into [[common law]], although [[judges]] treated this piece of opinion as if it had.

Within [[history]] can be seen the concept that marriage includes within it conjugal rights.  In Western culture this was often ascribed to the teaching of [[Saint Paul|St. Paul]]:''"Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control."''<ref>1 Corinthians v7, ch3-5, New King James Version Bible</ref>.  As a result of this passage the concept of marital rape was considered to be an impossibility, and this was codified by Sir Matthew Hale in the 1736 publication of his work ''Historia Placitorum Coronae, History of the Pleas of the Crown''.  Within this work Sir Hale wrote that marital rape could not exist: ''"But the husband cannot be guilty of a rape committed by himself upon his lawful wife, for by their mutual matrimonial consent and contract the wife hath given up herself in this kind unto her husband which she cannot retract."''<ref>''Historia Placitorum Coronae, History of the Pleas of the Crown'', Matthew Hale, Sir</ref>  However, it is important to note that Sir Hale wrote this as a matter of legal opinion, not a finding of legal fact, and so technically this concept did not pass into [[common law]], although [[Judge|judges]] treated this piece of opinion as if it had.

As a result of this, judges within the UK treated marital rape as an exception to the rape law until 1991.  In 1991 the [[House of Lords]], the highest national court in the UK, sat in judgement on an appeal lodged in the case of ''R v R'' [1992] 1 AC 599.  At the heart of the case rested the question of whether one of the parties involved could have have committed rape on the other party (the spouse) given that the two parties were married to each other.  The judges found that what had been perceived as [[case law]] regarding marital rape had been made on the basis of Sir Hale's opinion, and that the opinion in question wasn't [[Precedent|precedence]] (as it wasn't the finding of legal fact within a case), then common law granted no exemption for marital rape within the provisions of the statute governing the crime of rape.

As a result of this, judges within the UK treated marital rape as an exception to the rape law until 1991.  In 1991 the [[House of Lords]], the highest national court in the UK, sat in judgement on an appeal lodged in the case of ''R v R'' [1992] 1 AC 599.  At the heart of the case rested the question of whether one of the parties involved could have have committed rape on the other party (the spouse) given that the two parties were married to each other.  The judges found that what had been perceived as [[case law]] regarding marital rape had been made on the basis of Sir Hale's opinion, and that the opinion in question wasn't [[Precedent|precedence]] (as it wasn't the finding of legal fact within a case), then common law granted no exemption for marital rape within the provisions of the statute governing the crime of rape.