Pen. Code, § 261.6 · Chapter 1. Rape, Abduction, Carnal Abuse of Children, and Seduction
Pen. Code, § 261.6
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) In prosecutions under Section 261, 286, 287, or 289, or former Section 262 or 288a, in which consent is at issue, “consent” means positive cooperation in act or attitude pursuant to an exercise of free will. The person must act freely and voluntarily and have knowledge of the nature of the act or transaction involved.
(b) A current or previous dating or marital relationship is not sufficient to constitute consent if consent is at issue in a prosecution under Section 261, 286, 287, or 289, or former Section 262 or 288a.
(c) This section shall not affect the admissibility of evidence or the burden of proof on the issue of consent.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 626, Sec. 18. (AB 1171) Effective January 1, 2022.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN§ionNum=261.6.
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- sha256 70744574e3579c88e584a59fe01e0191cc5c9872c0f5c7f0ea18dcef3bfffc8f
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- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
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