Buggery Act 1533
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

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 The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the Great Council of England, great council of Lords Spi ...
that was passed during the reign of
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
. The act was the country's first civil
sodomy law A sodomy law is a law that defines certain sexual acts as crimes. The precise sexual acts meant by the term ''sodomy'' are rarely spelled out in the law, but are typically understood and defined by many courts and jurisdictions to include any ...
, such offences having previously been dealt with by the
ecclesiastical court In organized Christianity, an ecclesiastical court, also called court Christian or court spiritual, is any of certain non-adversarial courts conducted by church-approved officials having jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters. Histo ...
s. The term buggery, not defined in the text of the legislation, was later interpreted by the courts to include only anal penetration and bestiality, regardless of the sex of the participants, but not oral penetration. The act remained in force until it was repealed and replaced by the
Offences Against the Person Act 1828 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 of the United Kingdom that consolidated for England and Wales provisions in the law related to offences against the ...
( 9 Geo. 4. c. 31). Buggery remained a capital offence until 1861, though the last executions were in 1835.


Description

The act was piloted through
Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
by Henry VIII's minister
Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; – 28 July 1540) was an English statesman and lawyer who served as List of English chief ministers, chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false cha ...
(though it is unrecorded who actually wrote the bill), and punished "the detestable and abominable Vice of Buggery committed with Mankind or Beast". Prior to the 1550s, the term "Buggery" was not used in a homosexual sense, rather related to any sexual activity not related to procreation, regardless of sex or species involved in the sexual act, and also covered sexual crimes of a non-consensual nature. The law was not designed to police sexual activity, rather was simply taking a canon law and making it a civil law, a test case in removing church power. "Buggery" was not further defined in the law. According to the act: This meant that a convicted sodomite's possessions could be confiscated by the government, rather than going to their next of kin, and that even priests and monks could be executed for the offence—even though they could not be executed for murder. In moving what had previously been an offence tried by ecclesiastical courts into the secular ones, Henry may have intended it as a simple expression of political power along with other contemporary acts such as
Submission of the Clergy Act 1533 The Submission of the Clergy Act 1533 ( 25 Hen. 8 c. 19) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was one of the laws passed by the Reformation Parliament that subjugated the Church of England to the Crown as part of Henry VIII's ...
( 25 Hen. 8 c. 19) and one year before the
Act of Supremacy 1534 The Acts of Supremacy are two acts passed by the Parliament of England in the 16th century that established the English monarchs as the head of the Church of England; two similar laws were passed by the Parliament of Ireland establishing the En ...
( 26 Hen. 8. c. 1). However Henry later used the law to execute monks and nuns (thanks to information his spies had gathered) and take their monastery lands—the same tactics had been used 200 years before by
Philip IV of France Philip IV (April–June 1268 – 29 November 1314), called Philip the Fair (), was King of France from 1285 to 1314. Jure uxoris, By virtue of his marriage with Joan I of Navarre, he was also King of Navarre and Count of Champagne as Philip&n ...
against the
Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...
. In July 1540, Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford of Heytesbury, was charged with
treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...
for harbouring a known member of the
Pilgrimage of Grace The Pilgrimage of Grace was an English Catholic popular revolt beginning in Yorkshire in October 1536 before spreading to other parts of Northern England, including Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham and north Lancashire. The protests occurre ...
movement. He was also accused of buggery, as he was suspected of raping his own daughter. Hungerford was beheaded at
Tower Hill Tower Hill is the area surrounding the Tower of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is infamous for the public execution of high status prisoners from the late 14th to the mid 18th century. The execution site on the higher gro ...
, on 28 July 1540, the same day as Thomas Cromwell. Nicholas Udall, a cleric,
playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...
, and Headmaster of
Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...
, was the first to be charged with violation of the Act alone in 1541, for sexually abusing his pupils. In his case, the sentence was commuted to
imprisonment Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Impri ...
and he was released in less than a year. He went on to become headmaster of
Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as do ...
.


16th-century repeal and re-enactment

The act was repealed in 1553 on accession of the staunchly
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
Queen Mary, who preferred such legal matters adjudicated in
ecclesiastical courts In organized Christianity, an ecclesiastical court, also called court Christian or court spiritual, is any of certain non-adversarial courts conducted by church-approved officials having jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters. Histo ...
. However, it was re-enacted by Queen
Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...
in 1562, "An act for the punishment of the vice of buggery". Although "homosexual prosecutions throughout the sixteenth century
ere Ere or ERE may refer to: * ''Environmental and Resource Economics'', a peer-reviewed academic journal * ERE Informatique, one of the first French video game companies * Ere language, an Austronesian language * Ebi Ere (born 1981), American-Nigeria ...
sparse" and "fewer than a dozen prosecutions are recorded up through 1660 ... this may reflect inadequate research into the subject, and a scarcity of extant legal records." In 1631
Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven (1593 – 14 May 1631; also spelled ''Mervin, Touchet''), was an English nobleman who was convicted of rape and sodomy and subsequently executed. A son of George Tuchet, 1st Earl of Castlehaven and 11th ...
, was
beheaded Decapitation is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and all vertebrate animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood by way of severing through the jugular vein and common c ...
because of his rank. Numerous prosecutions that resulted in a sentence of hanging are recorded in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Even if the charge of sodomy was reduced for lack of evidence to a charge of attempted buggery, the penalty was severe: imprisonment and some time on the
pillory The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, used during the medieval and renaissance periods for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. ...
. "The lesser punishment—to be stood in the pillory—was by no means a lenient one, for the victims often had to fear for their lives at the hands of an enraged multitude armed with brickbats as well as filth and curses ... the victims in the pillory, male or female, found themselves at the center of an orgy of brutality and mass hysteria, especially if the victim were a molly." Periodicals of the time sometimes casually named known sodomites, and at one point even suggested that sodomy was increasingly popular. This does not imply that sodomites necessarily lived in security. In ''Rex v Samuel Jacobs'' (1817), it was concluded that fellatio between an adult man and an underage boy was not punishable under the act. The courts had previously established, in ''Rex v Richard Wiseman'' in 1716, that heterosexual sodomy was considered buggery under the meaning of the 1533 Act. In light of ''R v Jacobs'', fellatio thus remained lawful until the passage of
Labouchere Amendment Labouchere or Labouchère may refer to: * Labouchere (paddle steamer) * François de Labouchère (1917–1942), French aviator * Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton (1798–1869), British politician * Henry Labouchère (1831–1912), British politi ...
in 1885, which added the charge of
gross indecency 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 ...
to the traditional term of sodomy. The last two Englishmen who were hanged for sodomy were executed in 1835, when
James Pratt and John Smith James Pratt (1805–1835), also known as John Pratt, and John Smith (1795–1835) were two British men who, in November 1835, became the last people to be executed for sodomy in England.Cook ''et al'' (2007), p. 109. Pratt and Smith were arreste ...
died in front of the
Newgate Prison Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey, just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, the pr ...
in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
on 27 November.


Repeal in 1828

The act was repealed by section 1 of the
Offences Against the Person Act 1828 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 of the United Kingdom that consolidated for England and Wales provisions in the law related to offences against the ...
( 9 Geo. 4. c. 31) and by section 125 of the
Criminal Law (India) Act 1828 The Criminal Law (India) Act 1828 ( 9 Geo. 4. c. 74) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed criminal justice in India. The act repealed for India acts repealed for England and Wales in the Criminal Statutes Repeal ...
( 9 Geo. 4. c. 74). It was replaced by section 15 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1828, and section 63 of the Criminal Law (India) Act 1828, which provided that buggery would continue to be a capital offence. The new Act expressly specified that conviction of buggery no longer required proof of completion ("emission of seed") and that evidence of penetration was sufficient for conviction. 9 Geo. 4. c. 31, section XVIII Buggery remained a capital offence in England and Wales until the enactment of the
Offences against the Person Act 1861 The Offences against the Person Act 1861 ( 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated provisions related to offences against the person (an expression which, in particular, includes offences of ...
. The United Kingdom Parliament repealed buggery laws for England and Wales in 1967 (in so far as they related to consensual homosexual acts in private between people over the age of 21), ten years after the Wolfenden report. Jurisdictions in many former colonies have retained such legislation, as in the Anglophone Caribbean. Heterosexual sodomy, i.e. anal sex, remained a criminal offence, regardless of consent, until the
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (c. 33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It introduced a number of changes to the law, most notably in the restriction and reduction of existing rights, clamping down on unlicensed ...
decriminalised it for adults. In 2001, the age of consent for male homosexual acts and for heterosexual anal sex was reduced from 18 to 16, which is also the age of consent for all other types of sexual intercourse.


See also

*
Violence against LGBT people LGBTQ people frequently experience violence directed toward their human sexuality, sexuality, gender identity, or gender expression. This violence may be enacted by the state, as in laws LGBTQ rights by country or territory, prescribing punishm ...
* LGBT rights in the United Kingdom * LGBT rights in the Commonwealth of Nations


Notable convictions under the act

* Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford, 1540 * John Atherton, Bishop of Waterford, 1640 * Vere Street Coterie, 1810 * Percy Jocelyn, Bishop of Clogher, 1822


Notes


References


External links


The law in England, 1290–1885, concerning homosexual conduct
* Michael Kirby,
The sodomy offence: England's least lovely criminal law export?
, ''Journal of Commonwealth Criminal Law'', I 2011, pp. 22–43. * Paul Johnson
Buggery and Parliament, 1533-2017
.
Full text of the act, from ''The statutes at large, of England and of Great Britain'' (1811)
Nb {{Authority control 16th century in LGBTQ history Acts of the Parliament of England 1533 Henry VIII Repealed English legislation English criminal law LGBTQ history in the United Kingdom LGBTQ law in the United Kingdom Violence against LGBTQ people in the United Kingdom Sodomy