The Offences Against the Person Act 1828 (9 Geo. 4 c. 31) (also known as Lord Lansdowne's Act) was an Act of the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Grea ...

. It consolidated provisions in the law related to

offences against the person In criminal law, the term offence against the person or crime against the person usually refers to a crime which is committed by direct physical harm or force being applied to another person. They are usually analysed by division into the foll ...

(an expression which, in particular, includes offences of violence) from a number of earlier

statutes A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made ...

into a single Act. It was part of the criminal law reforms known collectively as " Peel's Acts", passed with the objective of simplifying the law. Among the laws it replaced was clause XXVI of ''

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by t ...

'', the first time any part of ''Magna Carta'' was repealed, and the

Buggery Act 1533 The Buggery Act 1533, formally An Acte for the punishment of the vice of Buggerie (25 Hen. 8 c. 6), was an Act of the Parliament of England that was passed during the reign of Henry VIII. It was the country's first civil sodomy law, such offe ...

. It also abolished the crime of

petty treason Petty treason or petit treason was an offence under the common law of England in which a person killed or otherwise violated the authority of a social superior, other than the king. In England and Wales, petty treason ceased to be a distinct offen ...

. The Act only applied to

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is En ...

(then described as England). A similar statute was passed for Ireland the following year (10 Geo. 4 c. 34). A number of the Act's provisions were repealed and replaced by the Offences against the Person Act 1837. The death penalty for shooting, stabbing, cutting or wounding with intent (s.12), and for post-

quickening In pregnancy terms, quickening is the moment in pregnancy when the pregnant woman starts to feel the fetus' movement in the uterus. Medical facts The first natural sensation of quickening may feel like a light tapping or fluttering. These sensat ...

abortions (s.13) under this Act was abolished by

repeal A repeal (O.F. ''rapel'', modern ''rappel'', from ''rapeler'', ''rappeler'', revoke, ''re'' and ''appeler'', appeal) is the removal or reversal of a law. There are two basic types of repeal; a repeal with a re-enactment is used to replace the law ...

of those sections by section 1 of the 1837 Act (sections 12 and 13 of this act were replaced by sections 4 and 6 of the 1837 Act, respectively). The death penalty for rape (s.16) and

carnal knowledge Carnal knowledge is an archaic or legal euphemism for sexual intercourse. In modern statutes, the term " sexual penetration" is widely used, though with various definitions. Biblical source The term derives from ''carnal'', meaning "of the fles ...

of a girl under ten (s.17) was abolished by amendment of those sections by section 3 of the

Substitution of Punishments of Death Act 1841 The Substitution of Punishments of Death Act 1841 (4 & 5 Vict. c.56) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It abolished the death penalty for rape, carnal knowledge of girls under the age of 10, any forgery cases not covered by p ...

. Section 18 made provision in relation to proof of carnal knowledge. The Act was wholly replaced by the Offences against the Person Act 1861. Under the Offences Against the Person Act of 1828, several sections pertained to the crime of rape. The penalty for being convicted of rape was still death, and remained so until 1841. The Act also made it a felony punishable by death to carnally know a girl under the age of ten. Carnally knowing a girl over the age of ten and under the age of twelve was a

misdemeanour A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than admi ...

punishable with imprisonment with the option of hard labour for a term to be determined by the court. The Act also affirmed that proof of penetration was sufficient to reach the conclusion that one person had had carnal knowledge of another; before the 1828 statute, victims of rape had to prove that the perpetrator ejaculated. Historian Anna Clark has argued that medical experts used ejaculation as proof of rape because it was tangible evidence that reduced the need for a victim's testimony. Clark also contends that requiring proof of ejaculation allowed judges and magistrates to ask victims humiliating and explicit questions. By changing the definition of carnal knowledge from ejaculation to proof of penetration, the 1828 act made it a little easier for victims to prosecute their rapists. Records show that from 1828 to 1841, 63 defendants accused of rape were tried at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

. Of those 63 defendants, 16 were found guilty and 12 were sentenced to death. Three had their sentenced reduced to imprisonment, and one had his judgment respited altogether. The Act and its focus on interpersonal violence also had the effect of increasing formal accusations of

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for '' intimate partn ...

, by reducing the stigma surrounding such activity and diminishing judicial delays.

References

*The Cabinet Lawyer, 4th Ed, 1828
p 12
6th Ed, 1830
p 355
*"Lord Lansdowne's Act". The Law Magazine. Second Edition of Volume 1. 1830. Article XIII
Page 129

External links

The Offences against the Person Act 1828
as originally enacted, The

Statutes at Large ''Statutes at Large'' is the name given to published collections or series of legislative Acts in a number of jurisdictions. The expression "statutes at large" was first used in the edition of Barker published in 1587. England and Great Britain ...

, 1828 (from

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). {{Abortion in the United Kingdom English criminal law Offences against the person United Kingdom abortion law United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1828 1828 in law Repealed United Kingdom Acts of Parliament LGBT law in the United Kingdom

See also

References

External links