The trial of Lord Castlehaven was remarkable in that the judges explicitly ruled that a woman could testify against her husband in criminal proceedings, especially if she was a victim. This had previously not been clear under English law and set an important precedent. In response to a question by Lord Castlehaven whether it could legally be called rape if the victim was a woman of loose morals, the judges responded that the reputation of the woman did not matter. They also ruled that it was irrelevant that Anne Stanley herself had never spoken out about the rape by Broadway.