Real legal stories – from UK case law

Terms: rape (gwałt), acquiring sth under false pretences, burglar

That’s not my husband!

A married woman was asleep. A burglar broke into her house and came into her bedroom. It must have been very dark, because she took it to be her husband and invited the burglar to make love to her. Which he did. At some point she realized it was not her husband and freaked out, called the police. In court, the charge of rape had to be dropped as the definition of rape at that time defined rape as sex without consent – and the woman had apparently given consent. (The definition has since been expanded to include ‘modern’ examples of rape using drugs (‘date rape’ drugs) which also make the criterion of consent insufficient. A woman or man who is drugged might give consent without realizing what she is doing).  The court, however, held that the burglar had been guilty of ‘acquiring sex under false pretenses’ – i.e. he wrongfully allowed the woman to continue in her false belief that it was her husband. And he took advantage of that false belief.