3 май 1992 г. - "Marital Rape Exception" law is outlawed

Описание:

Marital rape laws in every state in the union included an exception if the rapist and the victim were husband and wife.

While it has generally been illegal at all times for a man to force sex upon a woman other than his wife, a husband could force sex upon his wife without violating the law until very recently. The justifications for this marital rape exception were:

the British common law view that the contract of marriage includes the husband's "right to sex"—the wife having given consent for all time by entering the contract

the traditional view of wives as the property of their husbands with which they could do as they pleased under common law, and
the public interest in promoting privacy and harmony in marital relationships, which discouraged the state from interfering in the relationships.

An 1857 case in Massachusetts was the first in the U.S. to recognize the "contract" justification for the marital defense to rape. The "right" of a husband to sex with his wife also provided a husband with grounds for divorce if his wife refused sex. This defense became part of the rape laws in every state.

The third justification posed the greatest hurdle to rescinding the marital rape exception, but the fundamental incoherence of the justification has undercut its sway. As the Supreme Court of Virginia has noted, it is "hard to imagine how charging a husband with the violent crime of rape can be more disruptive than the violent act itself." (Weishaupt v. Commonwealth, 315 S.E.2nd 847 (Va. 1984).)

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