Keywords
Consent (Law)
Document Type
Article
Abstract
The author examines two proposals to expand legal recognition of individual control over physical integrity. Protections for individual autonomy are discussed in relation to the right to die, euthanasia, medical treatment, and consensual and assaultive sexual behaviours. The author argues that at present, the legal doctrine of consent protects only those individual preferences which are seen to be congruent with dominant societal values; social preferences and convenience override all other individual choices. Under these conditions, more freedom to waive rights of physical integrity can only place socially vulnerable persons at great risk of abuse.
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Citation Information
Vandervort, Lucinda.
"Consent and the Criminal Law."
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
28.2 (1990)
: 485-500.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.60082/2817-5069.1775
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ohlj/vol28/iss2/6