Section 14 - Consent

In construing a provision of this Act where it is required for a criminal act or criminal intent that an act should be done or intended to be done without a person’s consent, or where it is required for a matter of justification or exemption that an act should be done with a person’s consent,

(a) a consent is void if the person giving the consent is under twelve years of age, or in the case of an act involving a sexual offence, sixteen years, or is, by reason of insanity or of immaturity, or of any other permanent or temporary incapability whether from intoxication or any other cause, unable to understand the nature or consequences of the act to which the consent is given;

(b) a consent is void if it is obtained by means of deceit or of duress;

(c) a consent is void if it is obtained by or under the exercise of an official, a parental, or any other authority; and the authority which is exercised other-wise than in good faith for the purposes for which it is allowed by law, is for the purposes of this section, a power unduly exercised;

(d) a consent given on behalf of a person by the parent, guardian of that person, or any other person authorised by law to give or refuse consent on behalf of that person, is void if it is not given in good faith for the benefit of the person on whose behalf it is given;

(e) a consent does not have effect if it is given by reason of a fundamental mistake of fact;

(f) a consent is, for the purposes of this section, obtained by means of deceit or duress, or of the undue exercise of authority, or to have been given by reason of a mistake of fact, if it would have been refused but for the deceit, duress, exercise of authority, or mistake;

(g) the exercise of authority, for the purposes of this section, is not limited to the exercise of authority by way of command, but includes influence or advice purporting to be used or given by virtue of an authority;

(h) a person shall not be prejudiced by the invalidity of a consent if that person did not know, and could not by the exercise of reasonable diligence have known, of the invalidity.

Illustrations

1. A induces a person in a state of incapacity from idiocy or intoxication, or a child under twelve years of age to consent to the hair of that person being cut off by A. The consent is void.

2. A by pretending to have the consent of a child’s father, or under pretence of medical treatment, or by threats of imprisonment, induces a child to consent to sexual intercourse. The consent is void.

3. A cruelly beats a child. It is not a defence for A that the child’s father authorised the beating, or that the child’s father, by the exercise of parental authority, induced the child to consent.

4. A the chairman of a company, consents to B drawing money from the company to which A knows B does not have a right. If A does not honestly believe that the action is in the interest of the company the consent is void, and B commits the criminal offence of stealing unless B has acted in good faith.

5. A induces a woman to consent to having carnal knowledge of her by personating her husband. Her consent is void.