RAPE
rape,n.1. At common law, unlawful sexual intercourse committed by a man with a woman not
his wife through force and against her will. • The common-law crime of rape required at least a
slight penetration of the penis into the vagina. Also at common law, a husband could not be
convicted of raping his wife. — Formerly also termed rapture; ravishment. [Cases: Rape 1.C.J.S.
Rape §§ 1–3, 15.] 2. Unlawful sexual activity (esp. intercourse) with a person (usu. a female)
without consent and usu. by force or threat of injury. • Most modern state statutes have broadened
the definition along these lines. Rape includes unlawful sexual intercourse without consent after
the perpetrator has substantially impaired his victim by administering, without the victim’s
knowledge or consent, drugs or intoxicants for the purpose of preventing resistance. It also
includes unlawful sexual intercourse with a person who is unconscious. Marital status is now usu.
irrelevant, and sometimes so is the victim’s gender. — Also termed (in some statutes) unlawful
sexual intercourse; sexual assault; sexual battery; sexual abuse; (in Latin) crimen raptus. Cf.
sexual assault under ASSAULT; sexual battery under BATTERY.
“[Another] offence, against the female part also of his majesty’s subjects, but attended with
greater aggravations than that of forcible marriage, is the crime of rape, raptus mulierum, or the
carnal knowledge of a woman forcibly and against her will.” 4 William Blackstone, Commentaries
on the Laws of England 210 (1769).
“If force is to be declared an element of the crime [of rape] it becomes necessary to resort to
the fiction of ‘constructive force’ to take care of those cases in which no force is needed beyond
what is involved in the very act of intercourse itself. A better analysis is to recognize that the
requirement of force is simply a means of demonstrating that the unlawful violation of the woman
was without her consent and against her will. Therefore, evidence of serious force need not be
shown in many cases. Hence the better view is that ‘force’ is not truly speaking an element of the
crime itself, but if great force was not needed to accomplish the act the necessary lack of consent
has been disproved in other than exceptional situations. The courts today frequently state the
position that a woman’s resistance need not be ‘more than her age, strength, the surrounding facts,
and all attending circumstances’ make reasonable.” Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce,
Criminal Law 211–12 (3d ed. 1982).
acquaintance rape.Rape committed by someone known to the victim, esp. by the victim’s
social companion. Cf. date rape; relationship rape.
date rape.Rape committed by a person who is escorting the victim on a social occasion. •
Loosely, date rape also sometimes refers to what is more accurately called acquaintance rape or
relationship rape. [Cases: Rape 4. C.J.S. Rape § 14.]
marital rape.A husband’s sexual intercourse with his wife by force or without her consent. •
Marital rape was not a crime at common law, but under modern statutes the marital exemption no
longer applies, and in most jurisdictions a husband can be prosecuted for raping his wife. — Also
termed spousal rape. [Cases: Rape 4. C.J.S. Rape § 14.]
prior-relationship rape.See relationship rape.
rape by means of fraud.An instance of sexual intercourse that has been induced by fraud. •
Authorities are divided on the question whether rape can occur when a woman is induced by
fraudulent statements to have sexual intercourse. But the term rape by means of fraud is not
uncommon in legal literature.
rape under age.See statutory rape.
relationship rape.Rape committed by someone with whom the victim has had a significant
association, often (though not always) of a romantic nature. • This term encompasses all types of
relationships, including family, friends, dates, cohabitants, and spouses, in which the victim has
had more than brief or perfunctory interaction with the other person. Thus it does not extend to
those with whom the victim has had only brief encounters or a nodding acquaintance. — Also
termed prior-relationship rape. Cf. date rape; acquaintance rape.
spousal rape.See marital rape.
statutory rape.Unlawful sexual intercourse with a person under the age of consent (as defined
by statute), regardless of whether it is against that person’s will. • Generally, only an adult may be
convicted of this crime. A person under the age of consent cannot be convicted. — Also termed
rape under age. See age of consent under AGE. [Cases: Rape 13. C.J.S. Rape §§ 18, 21.]
“Carnal knowledge of a child is frequently declared to be rape by statute and where this is
true the offense is popularly known as ‘statutory rape,’ although not so designated in the statute.”
Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce, Criminal Law 198 (3d ed. 1982).
3.Archaic. The act of seizing and carrying off a person (esp. a woman) by force; abduction. 4.
The act of plundering or despoiling a place. 5.Hist. One of the six administrative districts into
which Sussex, England was divided, being smaller than a shire and larger than a hundred.
rape,vb.1. To commit rape against. 2.Archaic. To seize and carry off by force; abduct. 3. To
plunder or despoil. — rapist, raper,n. [Blacks Law 8th]