Cite as: 529 U. S. 513 (2000)
Opinion of the Court
rules, but this says absolutely nothing about whether they have introduced a quantum of evidence sufficient to convict the offender. Sufficiency of the evidence rules (by definition) do just that—they inform us whether the evidence introduced is sufficient to convict as a matter of law (which is not to say the jury must convict, but only that, as a matter of law, the case may be submitted to the jury and the jury may convict). In the words of Article 38.07, "[a] conviction . . . is supportable" when its requirements are met.
IX
The dissent contends that Article 38.07 is not a sufficiency of the evidence rule. It begins its argument by describing at length how the corroboration requirement "is premised on a legislative judgment that accusations made by sexual assault victims above a certain age are not independently trustworthy." Post, at 556; see also post, at 557-559. But it does not follow from that premise that Article 38.07 cannot be a sufficiency of the evidence rule. Surely the legislature can address trustworthiness issues through witness competency rules and sufficiency of the evidence rules alike. Indeed, the statutory history to which the dissent points cuts against its own argument. Article 38.07's statutory antecedent, the dissent says, was a "replac[ement]" for the old common-law rule that seduced females were " 'incompetent' " as witnesses. Post, at 557, 558. In 1891, Texas substituted a law stating that " 'the female alleged to have been seduced shall be permitted to testify; but no conviction shall be had upon the testimony of the said female, unless the same is corroborated . . . .'" Post, at 558 (emphasis added). That statute was recodified as Article 38.07 in 1965, was repealed in 1973, and then replaced in 1975 by another version of Article 38.07. As reenacted, the law's language changed from "no conviction shall be had" to its current language that "[a] conviction . . . is supportable." We think this legislative history, to the extent it is relevant for interpreting the current
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