As reported in The Guardian, the judge in question has faced a general uproar following his remarks.
Lawyers of a council’s social services brought the case to the court of protection, which, as outlined on gov.uk, makes “decisions on financial or welfare matters for people who can’t make decisions at the time they need to be made (they ‘lack mental capacity’).”
The lawyers requested that the judge consider imposing a court order preventing a man from having sex with his wife of 20 years due to her deteriorating condition. The woman has learning difficulties and the council’s social services flagged the issue, as social service officials believe she no longer has the capacity to decide whether she wants to have sex or not. As a result, the social services believe the woman may not be able to consent to sex and could be subject to rape if her husband initiates sex.
The judge, Mr Justice Hayden, claimed to want to review the evidence in question and highlighted the difficulty of policing a court order barring a man from having sex with his wife. He then went on to say “I cannot think of any more obviously fundamental human right than the right of a man to have sex with his wife – and the right of the state to monitor that,” continuing “I think he is entitled to have it properly argued.”
This comment has caused outrage on social media and amongst many media outlets, with commentators decrying the misogyny and treatment of women akin to objects.
Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, Jess Phillips, joined the condemnations on Twitter, describing it as “not even close to a right.”
