"Common prostitute" is a term used in
English law
English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures.
Principal elements of English law
Although the common law has, historically, be ...
related to
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 ...
. The term was first used in the
Vagrancy Act 1824. The term continued to be used in the
Street Offences Act 1959 which maintained the illegality of
street prostitution
Street prostitution is a form of sex work in which a sex worker solicits customers from a public place, most commonly a street, while waiting at street corners or walking alongside a street, but also other public places such as parks, benches, e ...
. Section 1 stated: "It shall be an offence for a common prostitute to
loiter or
solicit in a street or public place for the purpose of prostitution."
The case of ''Director of Public Prosecutions v Bull''
994158 J.P. 1005 determined that the term could only be applied to female, and not male, prostitutes.
The term was widely regarded as archaic, stigmatising, and offensive, and a number of failed attempts had been made since the 1920s to enact new legislation which would replace the wording with a solicitation law that applied to both sexes equally, and did not create an offence that could only be committed by a special class of person.
In 2007 the government announced that it would introduce new legislation which would eliminate the use of the term, and replace it with new language which would apply equally to males and females
Section 16of the
Policing and Crime Act 2009 amended s.1(1) of the Street Offences Act 1959 to replace the term "common prostitute" with "person".
The Policing and Crime Act 2009 also introduced tough new measures aimed at men seeking women for the purpose of prostitution. In particular the act makes it an offence for someone to pay or promise to pay a prostitute who has been subject to ‘exploitive conduct’.
Prostitution loitering paying or soliciting a prostitute subjected to force
The change made the customer an equal offender with the street prostitute
Street prostitution is a form of sex work in which a sex worker solicits customers from a public place, most commonly a street, while waiting at street corners or walking alongside a street, but also other public places such as parks, benches, e ...
.
See also
* Prostitution in the United Kingdom
* Street prostitute
Street prostitution is a form of sex work in which a sex worker solicits customers from a public place, most commonly a street, while waiting at street corners or walking alongside a street, but also other public places such as parks, benches, e ...
* 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 ...
References
External links
*
*
* {{cite web
, url = https://www.theguardian.com/crime/article/0,,2112250,00.html
, title = Justice reforms focus on prostitution and jail numbers
, author = Alan Travis
, date = 2007-06-27
, work = The Guardian
, accessdate = 2007-11-25
, ref=none
Prostitution
Prostitution in the United Kingdom