stuprum

Literal translation

dishonour; illicit sexual misconduct

Legal meaning

Stuprum is a Roman-law term referring to unlawful or disgraceful sexual intercourse, historically used to denote illicit sexual conduct falling short of rape but still recognised as an injury or wrong. In South African legal history, the term appears in Roman-Dutch sources and older case law dealing with sexual wrongs, dignity, and actions for damages. It is now mainly of historical or comparative significance rather than a modern statutory offence label.

Examples

• The old writers distinguished rape from stuprum when discussing sexual wrongs.
• Counsel referred to Roman-Dutch authorities on stuprum in tracing the historical basis of the claim.
• The judgment noted that stuprum survives chiefly as a historical term in South African law.

• 🇿🇦 M M v The State
  Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa· 2012-03-08· 542/11

  Simon Van Leeuwen Censura Forensis 1.5.23.12 (translated by Margaret Hewett, 2001). The reference to stuprum in this passage accords more nearly with the approach in Germany and some other jurisdictions

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Areas of law