CONSENT

consent,n.1. Agreement, approval, or permission as to some act or purpose, esp. given voluntarily by a competent person; legally effective assent. • Consent is an affirmative defense to assault, battery, and related torts, as well as such torts as defamation, invasion of privacy, conversion, and trespass. Consent may be a defense to a crime if the victim has the capacity to consent and if the consent negates an element of the crime or thwarts the harm that the law seeks to prevent. See Model Penal Code § 2.11.

“The consent [to a contract] is none the less ‘genuine’ and ‘real,’ even though it be induced by fraud, mistake, or duress. Consent may be induced by a mistaken hope of gain or a mistaken estimate of value or by the lie of a third person, and yet there is a contract and we do not doubt the ‘reality of the consent.’ Fraud, mistake, and duress are merely collateral operative facts that co-exist with the expressions of consent and have a very important effect upon the resulting legal relations.” William R. Anson, Principles of the Law of Contract 199 n.1 (Arthur L. Corbin ed., 3d Am. ed. 1919).

blank consent.See BLANK CONSENT.

express consent.Consent that is clearly and unmistakably stated.

implied consent. 1. Consent inferred from one’s conduct rather than from one’s direct expression. — Also termed implied permission. 2. Consent imputed as a result of circumstances that arise, as when a surgeon removing a gallbladder discovers and removes colon cancer.

informed consent. 1. A person’s agreement to allow something to happen, made with full knowledge of the risks involved and the alternatives. • For the legal profession, informed consent

is defined in Model Rule of Professional Conduct 1.0(e).2. A patient’s knowing choice about a medical treatment or procedure, made after a physician or other healthcare provider discloses whatever information a reasonably prudent provider in the medical community would give to a patient regarding the risks involved in the proposed treatment or procedure. — Also termed knowing consent. [Cases: Health  906.] knowing consent.See informed consent. voluntary consent.Consent that is given freely and that has not been coerced. 2.Parliamentary law. ADOPTION(5). — consent,vb. — consensual,adj. general consent. 1. Adoption without objection, regardless of whether every voter affirmatively approves. 2. See unanimous consent (1). unanimous consent. 1. Adoption with every voter’s approval. 2. See general consent (1). • The terms “general consent” and “unanimous consent” have distinct but interchangeable meanings. Some parliamentary manuals treat them as synonymous; others distinguish them; and still others distinguish them, but in exactly the opposite way.

“Motions that appear to have no opposition because they are relatively unimportant, uncontroversial, or because approval is obvious, permit the chair to say, ‘The motion, without objection, is adopted’ (or agreed to), without putting the motion to a formal vote. General consent implies that no one cared enough to oppose the motion or proposition. Unanimous consent implies that everyone was in agreement. If there is even one objection, the request is denied and the question must be put to a vote for adoption.” Floyd M. Riddick & Miriam H. Butcher, Riddick’s Rules of Procedure 97 (1985).

“ ‘Unanimous consent’ does not necessarily imply that every member is in favor of the proposed action; it may only mean that the opposition, feeling that it is useless to oppose or discuss the matter, simply acquiesces.” Henry M. Robert, Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised § 4, at 52 (10th ed. 2001). [Blacks Law 8th]