France, Oct. 30 -- The French Senate gave final approval on Wednesday to a bill definingrape and sexual assault as any non-consensual act, making France the latest European country to enshrine the principle of consent in law.

The proposal, presented in January after a landmark trial that saw 51 men convicted of abusing Gisele Pelicot while she was drugged and unconscious, passed in the Senate by 327 votes, with 15 abstentions.

After the lower house of parliament also approved it last week, France's criminal code will now be updated to state that "any non-consensual sexual act constitutes sexual assault".

French law previously defined rape a sex act committed "by violence, coercion, threat or surprise".

The new wording says consent mus...