Criminal Law Commons^™

Consent In Marriage: A Radical Feminist Analysis Of Pakistani Law, Iqra Saleem Khan

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

In Abdul Kadir v. Salima, Mahmood J summarised the nature of a Pakistani wife’s duties under Islamic Law. The nikkah contract “imposes submission on the wife when summoned to the couch and confers on him the power of correction when she is disobedient or rebellious.” Earlier, a similar pronouncement was made across the ocean in the United Kingdom by Sir Matthew Hale that through the marriage contract the “wife hath given herself to the husband, consent of which she cannot retract.” Marital rape was later recognised as an offence in the UK by the House of Lords in R …

Some Form Of Punishment: Penalizing Women For Abortion, Mary Ziegler

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

In 2016, Donald Trump ignited a political firestorm when he suggested that women should be punished for having abortions. Although he backtracked, Trump’s misstep launched a debate about whether women have been or should be punished for having abortions. At the same time, Trump’s comments revealed that punishing women has become far more than an abstraction. In 2016, Indiana resident Purvi Patel became just the most recent visible example when she was sentenced to twenty years for feticide and child neglect for inducing an abortion.

But in spite of the furor created by Trump’s comment and Patel’s conviction, the history …