R v R

R v R
Court	House of Lords
Decided	23 October 1991
Citation(s)	(1992) 94 Cr App R 216 [1991] 3 WLR 767 [1991] UKHL 12 [1992] Fam Law 108 (1991) 155 JP 989 [1992] 1 FLR 217 [1992] 1 AC 599 [1992] AC 599 [1991] 4 All ER 481 (1991) 155 JPN 752 [1992] Crim LR 207
Case history
Prior action(s)	None
Subsequent action(s)	SW and CR v UK
Court membership
Judge(s) sitting	Lord Keith Lord Brandon Lord Griffiths Lord Ackner Lord Lowry
Case opinions
Decision by	Lord Keith
Concurrence	Lord Brandon, Lord Griffiths, Lord Ackner, Lord Lowry
Keywords
marital rape

R v R [1991] UKHL 12^[a] is a decision in which the House of Lords determined that under English criminal law, it is a crime for a husband to rape his wife.

In 1990, the defendant, referred to in the judgment only as R to protect the identity of the victim, had been convicted of attempting to rape his wife. He appealed the conviction on the grounds of a purported marital rape exemption under common law. R claimed that it was not legally possible for a husband to rape his wife, as the wife had given irrevocable consent to sexual intercourse with her husband through the contract of marriage, which she could not subsequently withdraw.

Both the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords upheld the rape conviction, declaring that a marital rape exemption did not exist in English law^[1] and that therefore, it is possible for a husband to rape his wife.

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