Marital Rape and Related Sexual Offences: A Review of the Proposed Amendments to Part XII of the Crimes Ordinance

Abstract

A recent bill in Hong Kong proposes a number of amendments to the offence of rape and other related sexual offences as they apply to married persons. Part A of this article discusses the proposed amendments to the offence of rape and examines the case law under the analogous English legislation, with a particular focus on the House of Lords' decision of R v R [19921 1 AC 599 and its relevance to Hong Kong law. Part B considers the effect of the proposed amendments on a number of related sexual offences, in particular the effect of the new definition of 'unlawful sexual intercourse'. It is argued that, whilst the amendments to rape and several other key offences are to be warmly welcomed, this new definition is likely to cause confusion and may also reduce the protection currently afforded to certain categories of women against sexual offences committed by their husbands, thus necessitating further review and reform.