About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

11 Legal Hist. 117 (2007)
Preliminary Notes on Consent in the 1382 Rape and Ravishment Laws of Richard II

handle is hein.journals/ausleghis11 and id is 121 raw text is: Legal History (2007) Vol II PRELIMINARY NOTES ON CONSENT IN THE 1382 RAPE AND RAVISHMENT LAWS OF RICHARD II EMMA HAWKES* The focus of this work is on late-medieval conceptions of consent in rape and ravishment cases, and, in particular, on whether these understandings changed after the promulgation of the 1382 statute against rape and ravishment. I consider how consent was defined in the courts, what importance was given to the category, and whether the concept was significantly revised in the late-fourteenth century. The statute of 6 Richard 1I has traditionally been seen as a 'fundamental modification' of the English common law of rape and ravishment, but this evaluation is based purely on the wording of the statute and does not consider how the law was interpreted in the courts.' I test the proposition that the 1382 statute represented a significant legal change through an examination of a sample of 132 indictments of rape and ravishment made before itinerate justices in the late- fourteenth century. These records are formulaic, but in the wording of the indictments something of the conceptualisation of consent in rape and ravishment cases can be seen. I LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK The issue of consent in rape and ravishment was a complex one in medieval law. The modem distinction between rape for the purposes of this article defined as forcible coitus - and ravishment - here defined as abduction which did not necessarily involve forcible coitus - was blurred in medieval common law.2 Henry Bracton described both as being 'forcibly ravished against the king's peace' (violenter oppressam contra pacen domini regis).3 The late thirteenth- or early fourteenth-century Mirror of Justice described both abduction and forced coitus as BA (Hons in English and History) (UWA) PhD (Hist) (UWA). I wish to acknowledge the assistance of a grant from Griffith University which provided funding for the archival research. I would like to thank Dr Jenny Bailey-Smith for her assistance. J B Post, 'Sir Thomas West and the Statute of Rapes, 1382' (1980) 53 Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research 25. 2 Philippa Maddern, Violence and Social Order: East lnglia, 1422-1442 (1992) 99-103. 3 Henry Bracton, De Legibus et Consuetudinibus 4ngliae: On the Lavs and Customs of England, http://bracton.law.cornell.edu/bracton/Common/index.htm1.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most