A conclusive presumption (also known as an irrebuttable presumption) in English law is an presumption of law that cannot that cannot be rebutted by evidence and must be taken to be the case whatever the evidence to the contrary. English law, the law of England and Wales (but not Scotland and Northern Ireland), also known generally as the common law (as opposed to civil law), was exported to Commonwealth countries while the British Empire was established and maintained, and persisted after the British withdrew or were expelled, to form... In law, rebuttal is a form of evidence that is presented to contradict or nullify other evidence that has been presented by an adverse party. ... Evidence is: Any observable event which tends to prove or disprove a proposition, see scientific method and reality. ...

For example, the doli incapax rule conclusively presumes that a child less than ten years old cannot be held legally responsible for its actions, and so cannot be convicted for committing a criminal offence. The age was seven at common law, and raised by the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 to eight and by the Children and Young Persons Act 1963 to ten. A similar rebuttable presumption, that a child between the ages of ten and fourteen was not capable of committing a criminal offence, was abolished by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. for other uses please see Crime (disambiguation) A crime is an act that violates a political or moral law. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ... In law, a rebuttable presumption is an assumption that is made that will stand as a fact unless someone comes forward to contest it and prove otherwise. ...

Many conclusive presumptions have been abolished in recent years. For example:

• the rule that conclusively presumed that a boy under the age of 14 years cannot have sexual intercourse, and so cannot therefore be convicted as a principal for the offences of rape, buggery or any other offence where the actus reus involves sexual intercourse (abolished by the Sexual Offences Act 1993)
• the year and a day rule, which conclusively presumed that a death was not murder (or any other form of homicide) if it occurred more than a year and a day since the act (or omission) that was alleged to have been its cause (abolished by a Law Reform (Year and a Day Rule) Act 1996).
• the rule that, by marriage, a wife was conclusively presumed to have given her irrevocable consent to sexual intercourse with her husband, so a husband could not rape his wife (the offence of rape was then defined in section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 as "unlawful" sexual intercouse without consent, and the word "unlawful" was taken to make a distinction from "lawful" sexual intercourse within marriage). This rule was overturned by the House of Lords in the case of R. v. R. in 1991, and its abolition made clear by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which deleted the word "unlawful" from the definition.

A pair of lions copulating in the Maasai Mara, Kenya. ... Anal sex or anal intercourse is human sexual behavior involving the anus and rectum, especially, but not limited to, the insertion of the erect penis into the anus. ... Actus reus is the action (or inaction, in the case of criminal negligence and similar crimes which are sometimes called acts of omission) which, in combination with the mens rea (guilty mind), produces criminal liability in common law based criminal law jurisdictions such as the United States, United Kingdom. ... The year and a day rule was a principle of English law holding that a death was conclusively presumed not to be murder (or any other homicide) if it occurred more than a year and one day since the act (or omission) that was alleged to have been its cause. ... Death is either the cessation of life in a living organism or the state of the organism after that event. ... Homicide is the killing of another human being by one or more others. ... The Law Reform (Year and a Day Rule) Act 1996 is a short Act of Parliament which abolished the year and a day rule in English law, which conclusively presumed that a death was not not murder (or any other form of homicide) if it occurred more than a year... Marriage is a relationship and bond, most commonly between a man and a woman, that plays a key role in the definition of many families. ... Consent (as a term of jurisprudence) is a possible justification against civil or criminal liability. ... A pair of lions copulating in the Maasai Mara, Kenya. ... This article is about the British House of Lords. ...

See also

• Rebuttable presumption
• Presumption of fact