To what extent can a jury disregard evidence of a previous complaint?

To invite the jury to draw an adverse inference from lack of evidence of recent complaint is to revert to "the perverted survival of the ancient requirement that a woman should make hue and cry as a preliminary to an appeal of rape" (Holmes, J. in Commonwealth v. Cleary (1898) 172 Mass. 175 cited in R. v. Osborne [1905] 1 K.B. 551). This "ancient requirement" is not a principle of law but a medieval concept of the conduct to be expected in that era from a woman who claimed to have been ravished. It cannot be imposed on a modern jury. The jury must reach its conclusions on the basis of contemporary standards and concepts of which they, and not the trial judge, are deemed to be the best judges.