Women’s Charter Equality at the Supreme Court of Canada: Surprising Losses or Anticipated Failures?

A critical analysis of the standard of consent in rape law in India

“…From the cases and literature above, one can conclude that though an affirmative standard of consent has been firmly established through legislative intent and appellate judicial precedents since 1992, the Ewanchuk rules have been inconsistently applied by trial judges and many sexual assault decisions are marked by myths and stereotypes that continue to prevent legal recognition of unwanted sexual violations (Ruparelia 2006). Further, studies have indicated that judicial discourse on consent in cases where the complainant was married to, or was in a romantic relationship with the accused, is not in line with the decision in Ewanchuk, due to judges in trial courts noting the relevance of inherent free sexual availability in such relationships (Koshan 2010). Nevertheless, the standard of consent in sexual assault in Canada is a positive affirmative one and is proactively applied by the appellate judiciary in the determination of guilt.…”