Until 1990 the law did not recognise the rape of a woman by her husband, writes Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Correspondent
It has taken 12 years for a successful prosecution for the crime of rape of a wife by her husband. The Criminal Law Rape (Amendment) Act, passed in 1990, updated the law on rape in a number of areas, including removing the exemption husbands had previously enjoyed from culpability for raping their wives.
Until 1990 the law on rape in Ireland followed the common law tradition on this subject, which held that rape within marriage could not exist. This principle was established in the 17th century by the chief justice of England, Sir Matthew Hale, who wrote: "By their mutual matrimonial contract a wife hath given herself in kind unto the husband, which she cannot retract."
This situation prevailed in all common law jurisdictions for some 300 years, until it was challenged in the 1970s by the feminist movement, which pointed out that this view of wives as essentially the chattels of their husbands contradicted the principles of equality between the sexes that were rapidly gaining ground.
The Rape Crisis Centre and others campaigned for a change in the law in Ireland, and the Law Reform Commission made this one of its recommendations in its report on the law relating to sexual assault and rape. The 1990 law introduced wide-ranging changes, including homsexual rape, oral rape and sexual assault with implements.
While these offences have been successfully prosecuted in the Central Criminal Court in the succeeding years, and there have been a number of convictions, there had never been a successful prosecution for marital rape before yesterday. A few cases were brought by the DPP, but they led to acquittals.
Yet some commentators say this is a common problem. Certain researchers estimate that between 10 and 14 per cent of women experience rape in marriage, and a spokeswoman for Women's Aid, which welcomed yesterday's conviction, said it was a huge problem for the women who access the organisation's services. On the other hand, websites devoted to the men's rights movement claim that false allegations of marital rape are common.
This may be the case in the US, but it is certainly not so here, as only a tiny number of such cases have even reached the courts.
By 1993 all 50 states of the United States had enacted laws making marital rape a crime, although in 33 of these there were some exemptions allowing husbands a defence against the allegation.
Other countries which have outlawed it include the UK, Australia, Canada, China, Belgium, France. Costa Rica, Denmark, Israel, Japan, Norway, Sweden and South Africa.
However, the ideas of Sir Matthew Hale still prevail in many countries, especially in Africa, Asia and South America.