ABSTRACT
The criminal law related to sexual intercourse is unconcerned with satisfactory union – it is there to protect women, and especially young women, against sexual harassment. The definition of what constitutes sexual intercourse in the criminal field is far less exacting than is that in family law. The problems associated with unlawful sexual intercourse have been solved in relation to rape. In that circumstance, the issue was bound up with the relationship between unlawfulness and the marital state, the close association being something of a historical accident. For criminal legal purposes, sexual intercourse is ‘completed’ upon vulval penetration, but the act continues until withdrawal of the male penis. The patently absurd irrebuttable presumption that a boy below the age of 14 is incapable of an offence involving sexual intercourse has been abolished by the Sexual Offences Act 1993. The chapter discusses the nature of sexual intercourse which is considered necessary to constitute consummation of marriage.
