Marital rape which were early to criminalize marital rape include the Soviet Union (1922), Poland (1932), Czechoslovakia (1950), some other members of the Communist Bloc, Sweden (1965), and Norway (1971). Slovenia, then a republic within federal Yugoslavia, criminalized marital rape in 1977. The Israeli Supreme Court affirmed that marital rape is a crime in a 1980 decision, citing law based on the Talmud (at least 6th century). Criminalization in Australia began with the state of New South Wales in 1981, followed by all other states from 1985 to 1992. Several formerly British-ruled countries followed suit: Canada (1983), New Zealand (1985), and Ireland
Marital rape immunity in Singapore Sir Matthew Hale in “"The History of the Pleas of the Crown"”, where he stated that a husband cannot be guilty of marital rape against his wife because the latter had irrevocably consented to sexual relations during the marriage. This principle of irrevocable consent was later cited in several English cases as justification for immunity against marital rape. The immunity was eventually imported into Singapore law as part of the English common law by the application of the Application of English Law Act 1993. The marital rape immunity was the subject of legislative amendments in the Penal Code (Amendment) Act