Regina v. Cogan and Leak
England and Wales High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division
1 Q.B. 217 (1976)
- Written by Walter Machniki, JD
Facts
Leak and Cogan (defendants) came home from drinking when Leak told his wife that Cogan wanted to have sex with her and that she was going to let Cogan do so. Leak then laid his wife on the bed, had sex with her, and then watched Cogan have sex with her. Leak’s wife sobbed during the entire ordeal. After Leak and Cogan were finished, they left the house to go drinking again, and Leak’s wife called the police. The police apprehended Leak and Cogan shortly afterwards. Cogan claimed that Leak’s wife consented to the ordeal. At trial, Cogan was convicted of rape because his belief that Leak’s wife had consented was unreasonable. Leak was convicted of aiding and abetting Cogan to rape Leak’s wife. Cogan’s conviction was later overturned when a ruling in a later case determined that even an unreasonable belief of consent to sex was enough to preclude a charge and conviction of rape. Leak appealed his conviction, claiming that he could not be convicted of aiding and abetting Cogan’s rape of Leak’s wife when Cogan was acquitted of rape himself.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Lawton, L.J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 806,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
