Marital coercion
97.Section 47 of the Criminal Justice Act 1925 abolished the previously existing presumption that a wife who committed any offence (except treason or murder) in the presence of her husband did so under his coercion and should therefore be acquitted, and instead provided a defence to all criminal offences other than treason and murder where a wife could show that she committed the offence in the presence of, and under the coercion of, her husband. The Law Commission concluded in 1977 (Criminal Law: Report on Defences of General Application, Law Com. No. 83)(46) and in 1993 (Legislating the Criminal Code: Offences against the Person and General Principles, Law Com. No. 218)(47) that the defence was not appropriate to modern conditions as it only applies to married women and called for it to be abolished. Section 177 abolishes the defence of marital coercion and accordingly repeals section 47 of the Criminal Justice Act 1925.
