Ratio Of The House Of Lords Essay

The ratio of the House of Lords is that all five judges agreed to uphold the rape conviction, declared that a marital rape exemption doesn’t exist in the English Law. The meaning of ratio decidendi of a case is the principle of Law on which a decision is based. For example, when a judge delivers judgement in a case like R v R he outlines the facts and arrives at a decision, for which he gives the ratio. Ratio is the binding part of a judicial decision. [4] Lord Keith mentioned that the opinion that section 1(1) of the Act of 1976 presents no obstacle to the House declaring that in present day the alleged marital rejection in rape forms no part of the Law of England. [The Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) shared a similar view. Lord Lane C.J said, at p.1074: "The remaining and no less difficult question is whether, despite that view, this is an area where the court should step aside to leave the matter to the Parliamentary process.

The other judges of the House shared the same thoughts with that of their learned and noble friend Lord Keith. They all answered the certified question in the approving and reject the appeal. The case was reviewed by the European court of Human Rights and it was decided that the conviction of the R v R was a breach of article 7 of the European Convention on Human rights, extent to a conviction for an act that wasn’t a criminal offence when committed. The judgement in this case was supported by the Law Commission and was later confirmed in statute law by an amendment to the sexual Offences Act in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.