In the Irish Courts
| DOI | 10.1177/002201836202600208 |
| Published date | 01 April 1962 |
| Date | 01 April 1962 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
In the Irish Courts
SUPREME
COURT
IN
EIRE
LIMITATIONS OF THE DEFENCE OF CONSENT
A.G. (Shaughnessy) v. Ryan
Bys. 2(2) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1935, it
is provided
that
any person who attempts to have
un-
lawful carnal knowledge of any girl who is over the age of 15 and
under
the
age of 17 years shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.
In
A.G. (Shaughnessy) o. Ryan (1960, I.R. 181) the defendant
was charged
under
this subsection and, having consented to
be tried summarily in
the
District Court, he was convicted
and sentenced to two months' imprisonment.
Upon
appeal
to
the
Circuit Court he pleaded that
the
girl's consent to
the
charge was a good defence. There,
the
learned Judge stated
a case for
the
opinion of the Supreme
Court
upon
the
question
whether the fact
that
the
girl had fully consented to
the
attempt
took it out of the subsection.
In
that
Court, Maguire C.}.
stated that, although the point of law is an important one,
"the
law is so clear
that
it is not necessary to let [the case]
stand for
judgment".
The
section in
the
Act of 1930 is an
extension of earlier Acts "designed to protect young girls, not
only against lustful men
but
against themselves".
The
Court
followed
the
statement of law contained in R. o, Beale (I
C.C.R. 10), where Pollock C.B. said, uponachargeof attempted
carnal knowledge of a girl below
the
age of 10, contrary to s. 52
of 24 and 25 Vic. c. 100,
"The
learnedjudge who tried
the
case
seems to have thought
that
a full and ample consent on
the
part of
the
girl would have prevented the completion of
the
crime, and
that
aconsent of a different character would not
have had
that
effect.
This
opinion
...
is utterly unfounded.
Consentwas altogether unimportant". Similarly,in
the
Scottish
Court in H.M. Advocate v. Watson (23 S.L.R. 267),
Lord
Craighill charged the jury, upon aprosecution for carnal
To continue reading
Request your trial