Court Opinion

ID: 9660647
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:17:41.165708+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:21.075933
License: Public Domain

Btjtzel, J.
{dissenting). I am unable to concur in the opinion for reversal. The trial court correctly ruled that the well-pleaded allegations of the information amounted only to the crime of assault and battery. Under the common law, the Michigan statutes and decisions, the crime of “assault with intent to commit adultery” does not exist.
Simple incontinence or fornication was not punishable under the common law at the time of the founding of the American colonies. Jurisdiction of this offense had long before been relinquished to the ecclesiastical courts and thus no such offense was included in the body of common law adopted in this country. Anderson v. Commonwealth, 5 Rand (Va) 627 (16 Am Dec 776). Our penal code does not provide that simple fornication—concurrent sexual intercourse without sanction of marriage—is a crime in the absence of a further element in violation of law.
Adultery is the sexual intercourse of 2 persons, either of whom is married to a third person, and its perpetration is a felony. CL 1948, §§ 750.29, 750.30 (Stat Ann §§ 28.218, 28.219). Transgression of the marital vows in violation of statute is the element rendering such intercourse a crime.
Incest is sexual intercourse between 2 persons who are within the degree of relationship, either by consanguinity or affinity, wherein marriage to each other is prohibited, and the commission of incest is likewise a felony. CL 1948, § 750.333 (Stat Ann *1991949 Cum Supp § 28.565). Violation of the statutory prohibition against such intimacy between near relatives is the element rendering such intercourse a crime.
The analogous offenses of adultery and incest are thus based upon intercourse in disregard of either marital ties or ties of blood or affinity. In the early case of People v. Jenness, 5 Mich 305, Justice Christian'cy laid down the rule that the act of intercourse must be voluntarily engaged in by the parties in order to constitute the crime of incest. The following portion of the J enness opinion was quoted by Justice Cooley in DeGroat v. People, 39 Mich 124, where it was the controlling concept:
“This offense [of incest] can only be committed by the concurrent act of 2 persons of opposite sexes; and the assent or concurrence of the one is as essential to the commission of the offense as that of the other.”
In adherence to this established rule, rape and incest have been held mutually exclusive crimes, as the lack of consent essential to rape is repugnant to the concurrence necessary for incest. DeGroat v. People, supra, People v. Burwell, 106 Mich 27.
There is no reason to follow an opposite rule in adultery cases, as the 2 offenses differ only in the status from which the criminal aspect of the act arises. Adultery, like incest, requires the concurrence of both participants. If such mutual assent is lacking, the crime committed would be rape, as it is under the well-settled incest rule of this jurisdiction. To follow the contrary reasoning of the opinion for reversal would in effect overrule the Jenness, DeGroat and Burwell Gases, supra, or would make a distinction where no real difference exists.
Our statute (CL 1948, § 750.333 [Stat Ann 1949 Cum Supp § 28.565]) defines as incest not only for*200nication between near relatives, but also adultery between them. If, as is stated in tbe opinion for reversal, there can be the commission of adultery with the consent of only one of such parties, that “adultery” would not constitute incest under the Jenness, DeGroat and Burwell decisions, supra, despite the fact that it would fulfill the statutory definition of incest. This inconsistency is based upon the false premise that mutual assent is unnecessary for the crime of adultery and is avoided by adhering to the rule of concurrence in both the analogous crimes.
The drafters of our penal code (PA 1931, No 328), who presumptively were mindful of our decisions (Lenawee County Gas & Electric Co. v. City of Adrian, 209 Mich 52 [10 ALR 1328]), did not define adultery as requiring the consent of only one of the participants and, until such time as the legislature directs otherwise, that concept should not be en-grafted upon our law.
The record is clear that there was no intent to have illicit relations unless the woman involved concurred, and it is equally clear that she resisted all advances. In the absence of the vital element of concurrence, the offense charged in the information cannot exist.
Stemming from Sir Matthew Hale’s language in 1 Pleas of the Crown (1st Am ed) 634, there has been considerable judicial comment regarding the ease with which a sexual charge may be made and the', difficulty of disproving it. See the annotations in 60 ALR 1124 and 130 ALR 1489. It would be difficult to conceive of a charge more susceptible to the foregoing criticism than the one set forth in the iristant' case. Some trivial intentional touching, slight and innocuous, might lead to a similar felonious pharge in future cases.
Without lengthy citation of the numerous authorities' recognizing the facility with which threats to *201prefer sexual charges, or complaints made in execution of such threats, lend themselves to extortion schemes, suffice it to say that the conclusion reached in the foregoing opinion for reversal might frequently result in blackmailing innocent victims. In a situation such as the one at bar, simple assault and battery is the sole offense unless the legislature directs to the contrary. This it has not done.
Affirmed.
Reid and Dethmers, JJ., concurred with Butzel, J.