ABSTRACT
Comparative law observers hoping to fi nd assistance, in French law, with defi nitional problems pertinent to the law of consent are most likely to be disappointed, as no statutory text provides a defi nition. In relation to criminal law more specifi cally, no attempt is made to defi ne the consent of the victim, perhaps in terms similar to those used in the ‘groundbreaking’ defi nition of consent introduced under s 74 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in England and Wales. 1 Perhaps it is not surprising that French law has shied away from defi ning consent, in the light of the experience of English criminal law at least, where ‘the concept has proved notoriously diffi cult to defi ne’ 2 and where the concept of consent remains today highly vague and contestable despite the statutory defi nition. 3 In the absence of such a defi nition in France, criminal law scholarship and criminal jurisprudence were called upon to fi ll the void. Viewing the public interest as the alpha and omega of criminal law, these have taken as their starting point that, contrary to the maxim volenti non fi t injuria , individual consent does not neutralise criminal liability. Two illustrations of this are: the prostitute’s consent does not vitiate the charge for an offence of controlling prostitution for gain; 4 and the consent of the general assembly does not vitiate the director’s liability for
consent does not constitute a defence in French criminal law.
