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Maryland Court of Appeals Reverses Maouloud Baby Decision

By Corey Rayburnyung

Right after I started this blog, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals issued an opinion in Maryland v. Maouloud Baby. The court held that a person couldn't withdraw consent from a sex act once that sex act had begun. The court used some really odd rationales for its opinion and I posted about the case on several occasions. Thankfully, the Maryland Court of Appeals reversed the intermediate court's decision and put Maryland in line with the rest of the country regarding withdrawal of consent.  Here is a portion of the decision:While it certainly may be the case that the common law?s focus on penetration was somehow originally related to the ?de-flowering? of virgins, a search of early English case law and scholarship reveals that by the time Maryland expressly adopted ?the rules of the common law of England? in 1639,14 the English law of rape had evolved beyond the understanding of rape as merely a trespass upon a man?s property...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sex Crimes on April 22, 2008 (boomark / email).