R v Thursfield
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1837 |
| Date | 01 January 1837 |
| Court | Court of the King's Bench |
English Reports Citation: 173 E.R. 488
IN THE COURTS OF KING'S BENCH, COMMON PLEAS AND EXCHEQUER
Considered, R. v. Dee, 1884, 15 Cox, C. C. 579. Referred to, R. v. Read, 1849, 13 J. P. 55; R. v. Case, 1850, 1 Den. 580, Hegarty v. Shine, 1878, 14 Cox, C. C. 145; R. v. Clarence, 1888, 22 Q. B. D. 23.
488 BEGIN A V. SAITNDERS 8 OAR. & P. 268. regina v. bernard saunders. (If a person gets into the bed of a married woman, and by a fraud upon her have a connexion with her by her consent, she believing it to be her husband, and consenting because she believes it to be her husband, this is not a rape ; but if the person be indicted for a rape, he may be found guilty of an assault under the stat. 1 Viet. c. 85, s. 11.) [Considered, E. v. Dee, 1884, 15 Cox, C. C. 579. Referred to, R. v. Read, 1849, 13 J. P. 55 ; E. v. Case, 1850, 1 Den. 580 , Hegarty v. Shine, 1878, 14 Cox, C. C. 145 ; R. v. Clarence, 1888, 22 Q. B D. 23.] Rape.-The prisoner was indicted for feloniously ravishing Mary Anne, the wife of John Cleary (a). It appeared from the evidence of Mrs. Cleary that she and her husband were lodging in the house of the prisoner, [266] and that she and her husband had gone to bed on the night of Sunday, the 20th of August, when she soon fell asleep with her back towards her husband, and that afterwards she was awoke by feeling a hand passed round her, which turned her round; and that she, supposing it to be her witi child is founded in error " ; and he also says (id. vol. i p. 209), " About the 16th or 18th week after conception, the uterus suddenly ascends from the pelvis into the abdomen, a change which is attended with a very peculiar sensation to the woman, and is erroneously called ' quickening,' from its having been supposed to arise from the first motions of the foetus ^n utero, which was imagined at this period to receive the essence of vitality. The physiologist is now satisfied that the sensation has no relation either to the bfe or to the motions of the foetus, but is solely attributable to the sudden change in the position of the uterus ; nor is there any difference between the aboriginal life of the child and that which it possesses at any period of pregnamcy, thougl there may be an alteration of the proofs of its existence by the enlargement of its size and the acquisition of greater strength. The feeling of ' quickening' is very different from any that is excited by the subsequent motions of the child ; it more nearly resembles that which is occasioned by terror or agitation from any other cause, and is often followed by syncope [fainting] or hysteria We shall indeed cease to be surprised at this effect when we consider that from the uteius thus changing its situation a very considerable pressure is suddenly removed from the iliac vessels, in consequence of which the blood rushes to the lower extremities, and temporary exhaustion of the vessels of the brain, and a general loss of balance in the circulating system, are the results. In some women the motion is so obscure as not to occasion any distress ; and where the ascent of the uterus is gradual, it is often not felt at all." A newly discovered symptom of...
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