María Clara doctrine

The María Clara Doctrine, or women's honor doctrine, was a principle in Philippine judicial practice that gave significant weight to a woman's testimony in cases of sexual abuse, particularly rape.

Courts often treated the complainant's account as sufficient for conviction if deemed credible, even without extensive corroboration. It was classically summarized in judicial opinions as: "It is a well-known fact that women, especially Filipinos, would not admit that they have been abused unless that abuse had actually happened. This is due to their natural instinct to protect their honor."

Despite being controversial and widely criticized, the doctrine was widely applied for decades until it was overturned by the Supreme Court of the Philippines in People vs. Amarela in 2018. In 2022, The Supreme Court's Benchbook has classified the Maria Clara Doctrine as a "judicial myth". The November 2023 report Legal Feminism in Philippine Gender Jurisprudence confirms that the Supreme Court of the Philippines has abandoned the Maria Clara doctrine through cases such as People v. Amarela and Perez v. People.