Lopez: Questions for Class

For the Lopez case, the main question for class is, of course, the holding concerning mens rea.

But additiional questions arise from the statute that Lopez addresses. That statute defines rape as sex by means of force rather than as simply sex without consent. To modern sensibilities, rape is sex without consent. An additional force requirement strikes many of us as outdated.

Nevertheless, please identify reasons why earlier eras required a showing of force. Some of these reasons will be bad reasons, even if understandable. But some will make sense even if they are not powerful enough in the end to justify a force requirement. Consider how the requirement might serve various purposes, both from the defendant's point of view during the event and later, as an evidentiary matter at trial. List as many reasons as you can from different points of view.