The Constitutional Court on Thursday threw out a decades-old law that punishes men for having sex with women by making false promises of marriage, saying it was an "excessive regulation that violates the rights of men and women to make their own decisions about sex" and was thus unconstitutional.

The ruling brings an end to the 56-year-old practice of punishing men for such behavior and Article 304 of the Criminal Code that embodied this law has become null and void. Article 304 stipulates, "Individuals who have sexual relations with a woman... under the promise of marriage or by using other deceptive approaches" face a maximum two-year prison term or a penalty of up to W5 million (US$1=W1,155).

The ruling came in response to a petition submitted to the Constitutional Court by a man identified as Lim who was convicted of the offense. The Constitutional Court reached the decision by a majority of six to three.

This is the first time the Constitutional Court has ruled that an article in the Criminal Code is unconstitutional. The latest ruling also overturns a 2002 decision by the same court, when seven out of its nine judges upheld the law. "The sexual behavior of individuals is part of people's private lives and the state must limit restraints in that area as much as possible," the court said. "If a woman, after deciding to have a sexual relationship with a man who demands it, later asks for the court to punish him, this in effect denies her the responsibility to make her own decision to have sex."

The court pointed to "a growing perception that sex and love are private matters that should not be regulated by laws" and "it would suffice for the state to mete out punishment only in cases where such acts cause harm to society."