This Act is a favourite with the blackmailer. The child is sent out to solicit, dressed like a woman, but appears in the witness-box in a much more juvenile costume.
To constitute rape there must be penetration, but this may be of the slightest. There may be a sufficient degree of penetration to constitute rape without rupturing the hymen. Proof of actual emission is now unnecessary.
The subject of carnal knowledge (C.K.) or its attempt may be summed up as follows:
| Under thirteen | C.K. | Felony. |
| Under thirteen | Attempt | Misdemeanour. |
| Consent no defence. | ||
| From thirteen to sixteen | C.K. | Misdemeanour. |
| From thirteen to sixteen | Attempt | Misdemeanour. |
| Consent and even solicitation no defence. | ||
| Reasonable cause to believe the girl over sixteen is a good defence. | ||
| Charge must be brought within three months. | ||
| Over sixteen | C.K. with consent | Nil. |
| Subject to civil action for loss of girl's services by father. | ||
| Idiot or imbecile | C.K. with violence | Rape. |
| Idiot or imbecile | C.K. without violence | Misdemeanour. |
| Personation of husband | Rape. | |
| Tacit consent no defence, for obtained by fraud. | ||
| Married woman | C.K. with consent | Adultery. |
| Mother, sister, daughter, grand-daughter | C.K. consent immaterial; born in wedlock or not | Incest. |
| Females | Indecent assaults | Misdemeanour. |
It is a misdemeanour to give to a woman any drug so as to stupefy her, and so enable any person to have unlawful connection with her.
False charges of rape are very often made. The motive may be to extort blackmail, revenge, or mere delusion. On examining such cases bruises are seldom found, but scratches which the woman has made on the front of her body may be discovered, and the local injuries to the generative organs are slight, if present at all.
Physical Signs.—In the adult the hymen may be ruptured, the fourchette lacerated, and blood found on the parts, together with scratches and other marks and signs of a struggle. In the child there may be no hæmorrhage, but there will be indications of bruising on the external organs, with probably considerable laceration of the hymen, the laceration in some cases extending into the rectum. Severe hæmorrhage, and even death, may follow the rape of a young child. The patient will have difficulty in walking, and in passing water and fæces. After some hours the parts are very tender and swollen, and a sticky greenish-yellow discharge is present. These signs last longer in children than in adults; but as a rule—in the adult, at least—all signs of rape disappear in three or four days. Young and delicate children may suffer from a vaginal discharge, with swelling of the external genitals, simulating an attempt at rape. Infantile leucorrhœa is common, and many innocent people have been exposed to danger from false charges of rape on children, instituted as a means of levying blackmail. A knowledge of these facts suggests the necessity of giving a guarded opinion when children are brought for examination in suspected cases. Pregnancy may follow rape.
Seminal stains render the clothing stiff and greyish-yellow in colour, with translucent edges. On being moistened they give the characteristic seminal odour.
Semen may be found on the linen of the woman and man, and will be recognized under the microscope by the presence in it of spermatozoa, minute filamentary bodies with a pear-shaped head; but it must not be forgotten that the non-detection of spermatozoa is no proof of absence of sexual intercourse, for these bodies are not always present in the semen of even healthy adult young men. Spermatozoa must not be mistaken for the Trichomonas vaginæ found in the vaginæ of some women. The latter have cilia surrounding the head, which is globular.
Florence's Micro-Chemical Test for Spermatic Fluid.—If a drop of the fluid obtained by wetting a supposed spermatic stain be mixed with a drop of the following solution (KI, parts 1.65; pure iodine, 2.54; distilled water, 30) in a watch-glass, brownish-red pointed crystals resembling hæmin crystals are obtained.