Consent

• Consent has two elements:

  1. Can the offence be consented to?
  2. Was the consent genuine?
• Consent is a full defence and can lead to an acquittal.
• Cannot consent to being killed.

  Bland or Pretty.
• You can normally consent to common assault but anything more serious needs to come under the "recognised exceptions" to be able to consent to it.
• Recognised exceptions:

  1. Sports
  2. Social Intercourse
  3. Sexual Activities
  4. Medical and Cosmetic
• Most sports carry a risk of injury. The rules of a sport can be consent to, but anything outside the rules has potential for criminal liability.

  Barnes.
• Shaking hands and hugging are all actions that are implicitly consented to, but consent can be withdrawn.

  Collins v Wilcock.
• Sexual activities are consented to unless it goes too far.

  Jones.
• There are concerns around "extreme sexual activities" and the transmission of diseases

  Brown and Others.

  Slingsby.
• Medical procedures are consented to by you, or a next of kin, signing a consent form.
• Piercings and tattoos can be consented to once the age of consent has been reached.

  Wilson.
• If the victim is a child, the consent isn't genuine.
• The question is: "does the victim have the sufficient understanding and intelligence to give consent"

  Gillick.
• Where a victim consents through fear, it's a question of whether the threats are sufficient enough to warrant the consent.

  Olugboja.
• Where the consent is obtained through fraud, it will not be recognised as genuine.

  Williams.