In Liechtenstein, the age of consent is 14 years. Sexual activity with 14- to 15-year-olds is generally legal, but can still be punished if sexual access to these children was obtained by exploiting their lack of sexual self-determination. [67] Male homosexual acts have been decriminalized in Gibraltar since 1993, when the age of consent was higher at 18 for gays and 16 for lesbians and heterosexuals. Anal sex was still illegal for heterosexuals. The equal age of consent at 16 and the legalization of heterosexual intercourse occurred due to a Supreme Court decision in 2011. [158] In 2011, the Non-Gender-Based Crimes Act 2011 introduced an equal and neutral age of consent of 16 and legalized anal sex for heterosexuals – reflecting the Gibraltar Supreme Court decision and repealing and updating Gibraltar`s 140-year-old criminal laws. [157] Since 2011, the age of consent in Gibraltar (a British Overseas Territory) has been the same and gender-neutral at 16. The Non-Gender-Based Crimes Act 2011 was passed by the Parliament of Gibraltar – pursuant to the 2011 decision of the Supreme Court of Gibraltar and repealing and updating Gibraltar`s 140-year-old criminal laws. [157] Other countries, such as Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Slovenia, are also considering reforming outdated laws to be based on consent.
In March this year, the Spanish government announced a draft law to combat sexual violence, which includes a reform of the legal definition of rape to bring it into line with international human rights law and standards. The age of consent for heterosexual acts in England was set at 12 in 1275 during the reign of Edward I. The wording read: “It is considered illegal to vandalize a girl who is under the legal age” – at the time, “the legal age” was 12 years old. Therefore, technically speaking, there was no age of consent for the male participant. English law became applicable in Wales by virtue of the laws of Wales (1536 and 1543). In medieval Welsh law, there was no real equivalent of the age of consent as such, but a girl was marriageable between the ages of 12 and 14 (the onset of puberty) and a fine was due for forcibly taking a girl`s life; The rules varied by status and may not have been rigidly applied to citizens. [147] Male homosexual sexual acts were illegal in Northern Ireland until 1982, when they were decriminalized by the Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982, which set the age of consent at 21 – as in the rest of the United Kingdom at the time. This amendment is the result of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Dudgeon v. United Kingdom (1981), in which the European Court of Human Rights found that the prohibition of homosexual acts violated article 8 of the Convention. The age of consent for men to homosexual behaviour was lowered to 18 in 1994 when the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act was passed in 1994 (to comply with England and Wales).
In 2001, the age of consent was subsequently lowered to 17 years for male homosexual sexual conduct – which was consistent with heterosexual and lesbian sexual behaviour under section 1 of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000. In 2008, the above-mentioned regulation lowered the age of consent for all persons to 16, bringing it in line with the rest of the United Kingdom. In addition, it is illegal for an adult to engage in sexual acts with a minor under the age of 18 if the adult abuses the authority or influence he or she has over the minor to obtain sexual access. Laws were relaxed in the 1960s. [131] In 1965, there was a review of previous pornography laws that portrayed children as part of the “child`s right to sexuality.” [131] From 1971 to 1980, it was legal to buy, sell and possess child pornography depicting children as young as 10 or 11 years of age. [131] The Romanian Penal Code currently sets the age of consent at 16,[101] following legislative changes in 2020. [102] After years of campaigning by women`s rights activists, a landmark law making sex with a person illegal was passed by the Icelandic parliament in March 2018, unless you have their explicit consent. By law, consent must be expressed clearly and voluntarily.
While most European countries set the age of consent at 16-17, several others, including Malta and Vatican City, require young people to be at least 18 before legally having sex. The lowest age of consent in Europe is 14, which applies in Austria, Italy, Serbia, Germany and Portugal. The age of consent, although it has no concrete legal definition, is generally understood as the lowest age at which a person is legally allowed to consent to sexual activity with another person. However, the exact definition varies from country to country, and there are other factors that can make a sexual act otherwise illegal (or vice versa). Prior to the independence of the Irish Free State in 1922, the law in Ireland was that of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (see History of the United Kingdom).