The Sexual Offences Act 1956 (4 & 5 Eliz.2 c.69) is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

that consolidated the

English criminal law English criminal law concerns offences, their prevention and the consequences, in England and Wales. Criminal conduct is considered to be a wrong against the whole of a community, rather than just the private individuals affected. The state, i ...

relating to sexual offences between 1957 and 2004. It was mostly repealed (from 1 May 2004) by the

Sexual Offences Act 2003 The Sexual Offences Act 2003 (c. 42) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It partly replaced the Sexual Offences Act 1956 with more specific and explicit wording. It also created several new offences such as non-consensual voyeur ...

which replaced it, but sections 33 to 37 still survive. The 2003 Act also added a new section 33A. These sections create offences to deal with

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...

s. Although the rest of the Act has been repealed, the repealed sections still apply to sex crimes committed before the repeal, such as in the

Pitcairn sexual assault trial of 2004 In the Pitcairn sexual assault trial of 2004 seven men living on Pitcairn Island faced 55 charges relating to sexual offences against children and young people. The accused represented a third of the island's male population and included Steve C ...

The Act today

Sections 33, 34, 35 and 36 create

summary offence A summary offence or petty offence is a violation in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment (required for an indictable offence). Canada In Canada, summary offenc ...

s. Section 33A creates an aggravated version of the offence in section 33, and is an

indictable offence In many common law jurisdictions (e.g. England and Wales, Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore), an indictable offence is an offence which can only be tried on an indictment after a preliminary hearing ...

. Section 37 prescribes the penalties.

Sections 33 and 33A

Section 33 reads: Section 33A reads: The difference between these offences arises because the definition of a brothel in English law does not require that the premises are used for the purposes of

prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...

, since a brothel exists wherever more than one person offers sexual contact, whether for payment or not. "Prostitution" is defined by section 51(2) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 as follows: "Payment" is defined by section 51(3):

Section 34 Section 35(1)

Section 36 Penalties

Section 37 gives effect to Schedule 2 to the Act, which sets out the penalties for the above offences. For sections 33, 34, 35 and 36 the penalty is imprisonment for three months for a first offence, or six months "for an offence committed after a previous conviction" for any of those offences. The maximum sentence for the offence under section 33A is six months in a

magistrates' court A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings. Courts * Magistrates' court (England and Wales) * Magistrate's Cour ...

, or seven years in the

Crown Court The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all Indictable offence, indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals lied to it by the Magistrates' court, magistrates' court ...

Succeeding Sexual Offences Acts

*The

Street Offences Act 1959 The Street Offences Act 1959 (7 & 8 Eliz 2 c 57) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning street prostitution. It was passed following the publication of the Wolfenden report which discussed the rise in street prostitution a ...

prohibited

soliciting Solicitation is the act of offering, or attempting to purchase, goods and/or services. Legal status may be specific to the time or place where it occurs. The crime of "solicitation to commit a crime" occurs when a person encourages, "solicits, r ...

"in a street or public place for the purpose of prostitution." *The

Sexual Offences Act 1985 The Sexual Offences Act 1985 (c.44) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created two offences concerning prostitution, and increased the maximum sentence for attempted rape from seven years to life imprisonment. The act wa ...

prohibited

kerb crawling Clients of prostitutes or sex workers are sometimes known as ''johns'' or ''tricks'' in North America and ''punters'' in Britain and Ireland. In common parlance among prostitutes as well as with others, the act of negotiating and then engaging with ...

and persistently soliciting women for the purposes of prostitution. *The

inserted section 33A into the 1956 Act, and created further offences relating to prostitution: **Sections 47 to 50 prohibit

child prostitution Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent. In most jurisdictions, child ...

. **Sections 52 and 53 prohibit

pimping Procuring or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term pimp has still ...

for financial gain. **Sections 57 to 59 create offences relating to

sex trafficking Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. It has been called a form of modern slavery because of the way victims are forced into sexual acts non-consensually, in a form of sexual slavery. Perpetrators of the ...

The Act as originally enacted

Comparative table
Current Law Statutes Annotated Current Law Statutes Annotated, published between 1994 and 2004 as Current Law Statutes, contains annotated copies of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed since 1947 and Acts of the Scottish Parliament passed since 1999. It is publis ...
(1956)Sweet and Maxwell

Section 2 replaced section 3(1) of the

Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 ( 48 & 49 Vict. c.69), or "An Act to make further provision for the Protection of Women and Girls, the suppression of brothels, and other purposes," was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the lat ...

Section 3 replaced section 3(2) of the

and section 36 of the

Criminal Law Amendment Act 1951 In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

Section 4 replaced section 3(3) of the

Section 5 replaced section 4 of the

Section 6(1) replaced section 5(1) of the

Section 6(2) replaced section 1 of the

Age of Marriage Act 1929 The Age of Marriage Act 1929 (19 & 20 Geo 5 c 36) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which increased the age of marriage to sixteen. It was passed in response to a campaign by the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenshi ...

Section 6(3) replaced section 2 of the

Criminal Law Amendment Act 1922 In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

Section 7 replaced section 5(2) of the

Section 8 replaced section 56(1)(a) of the

Mental Deficiency Act 1913 The Mental Deficiency Act 1913 was an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom creating provisions for the institutional treatment of people deemed to be "feeble-minded" and "moral defectives". "It proposed an institutional separation so that menta ...

Section 9 replaced section 56(1)(b) of the

Section 10(1) replaced section 1(1) to (3) of the Punishment of Incest Act 1908 Section 10(2) replaced section 3 of the Punishment of Incest Act 1908 Section 11(1) replaced section 2 of the Punishment of Incest Act 1908 Section 11(2) replaced section 3 of the Punishment of Incest Act 1908 As a whole section 17 replaced sections 53 and 54 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. Section 17(1) replaced section 54 of that Act. Section 18 replaced section 53 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 Section 19 replaced section 7 of the

Section 20 replaced section 55 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 Section 21 replaced section 56(1)(e) of the

Section 22(1)(a) replaced section 2(2) of the

Section 22(1)(b) replaced section 2(3) of the

and section 2 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1912 Section 22(1)(c) replaced section 2(4) of the

, section 2 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1912 and section 1(b) of the

Section 22(2) replaced the proviso to section 2 of the

Section 23(1) replaced section 2(1) of the

and section 1(a) of the

Section 23(2) replaced the proviso to section 2 of the

Section 24 replaced section 8 of the

Section 25 replaced section 6(1) of the

Section 26 replaced section 6(2) of the

Section 27 replaced section 56(1)(d) of the

Section 28(1) replaced section 2(1) of the

Children and Young Persons Act 1933 The Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (23 & 24 Geo.5 c.12) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It consolidated all existing child protection legislation for England and Wales i ...

Section 28(2) replaced section 2(2) of the

Sections 28(3) and (4) replaced section 17 of the

Section 28(5) replaced section 99(2) of the

Section 29 replaced section 56(1)(c) of the

Section 30(1) replaced section 1(1)(a) of the

Vagrancy Act 1898 The Vagrancy Act 1898 (Vict. 61 & 62 c.39) was a piece of legislation in England and Wales that criminalised men who lived off the earnings of prostitution (pimping) and who solicited in public places. The bill was generally viewed as successfu ...

and sections 7(2) and (5) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1912 Section 30(2) replaced section 1(3) of the

and section 7(1) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1912 Section 31 replaced section 7(4) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1912 Section 32 replaced section 1(1)(b) of the

and sections 7(2) and (5) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1912 Section 33 replaced section 13(1) of the

Section 34 replaced section 13(3) of the

Section 35(1) and 36 replaced section 13(2) of the

Sections 38 replaced section 1(4) of the Punishment of Incest Act 1908 Section 40 replaced section 1 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1912 Section 49(a) replaced section 2 of

Section 49(b) replaced section 3 of

Section 1

This section created the felony, and later offence, of

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

. Section 1(1) replaced section 48 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861.Current Law Statutes Annotated (1956)Sweet and Maxwell Section 1(2) replaced the final paragraph of section 4 of the

Section 12

This section created the felony, and later offence, of buggery. Section 12(1) replaced section 61 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. Section 12(2) replaced section 15 of the

. Section 12(3) replaced section 99(2) of the

Section 13

This section created the offence of

gross indecency between men Gross indecency is a crime in some parts of the English-speaking world, originally used to criminalize sexual activity between men that fell short of sodomy, which required penetration. The term was first used in British law in a statute of the Br ...

. Section 13 replaced section 11 of the

Section 14

This section created the offence of

indecent assault Indecent assault is an offence of aggravated assault in some common law-based jurisdictions. It is characterised as a sex crime and has significant overlap with offences referred to as sexual assault. England and Wales Indecent assault was a broa ...

on a woman. Section 14(1) replaced section 52 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. Section 14(2) replaced section 1 of the

. Section 14(3) replaced section 1 of the

. Section 14(4) replaced section 56(3) of the

Section 15

This section created the offence of

on a man. Section 15(1) replaced section 62 of Offences against the Person Act 1861. Section 15(2) replaced section 1 of the

. Section 15(3) replaced section 56(3) of the

. Section 15(4) replaced section 15 of the

. Section 15(5) replaced section 99(2) of the

Section 16

This section created the offence of assault with intent to commit buggery. Section 16(1) replaced section 62 of Offences against the Person Act 1861. Section 16(2) replaced section 15 of the

. Section 16(3) replaced section 99(2) of the

Section 44

See

Sexual intercourse in English law The expression sexual intercourse has been used as a legal term of art in England and Wales. From its enactment to its repeal on the 1 May 2004, section 44 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 read: Unnatural This expression referred to buggery (i ...

. Section 44 replaced section 63 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861.

References

External links

Sections 33, 34, 35 and 36
of the Act, as in force today, from the

UK Statute Law Database legislation.gov.uk, formerly known as the UK Statute Law Database, is the official web-accessible database of the statute law of the United Kingdom, hosted by The National Archives. It contains all primary legislation in force since 1267 and a ...

.
Section 33A
(as inserted by section 55 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003).
Text of the whole Act
prior to 1 May 2004. {{UK legislation English criminal law Sex crimes in the United Kingdom United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1956 Prostitution law in the United Kingdom

The Act today

Sections 33 and 33A

Section 34

Section 35(1)

Section 36

Penalties

Succeeding Sexual Offences Acts

The Act as originally enacted

Section 1

Section 12

Section 13

Section 14

Section 15

Section 16

Section 44

See also

References

External links