39-472: 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 offences having previously been dealt with by the ecclesiastical courts . The term buggery , not defined in the text of the legislation, was later interpreted by
78-550: A list of acts of the Parliament of England for the year 1533 . For acts passed during the period 1707–1800, see the list of acts of the Parliament of Great Britain . See also the list of acts of the Parliament of Scotland , and the list of acts of the Parliament of Ireland . For acts passed from 1801 onwards, see the list of acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . For acts of the devolved parliaments and assemblies in
117-462: A "welcome beating" on arrival, as in 18th-century Waldheim in Saxony (12, 18 or 24 whip lashes on the bare posterior tied to a pole in the castle courtyard, or by birch rod over the " bock ", a bench in the corner). Still a different penal use of such constructions is to tie the criminal down, possibly after a beating, to expose him for a long time to the elements, usually without food and drink, even to
156-504: A bill to abolish the pillory in Delaware in March 1905. Punishment by whipping-post remained on the books in Delaware until 1972, when it became the last state to abolish it. Delaware was the last state to sentence someone to whipping in 1963; however, the sentence was commuted. The last whipping in Delaware was in 1952. In Portugal today pillory has a different meaning. The Portuguese word
195-459: A criminal offence, regardless of consent, until the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 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18 to 16, which is also the age of consent for all other types of sexual intercourse. 25 Hen. 8 Interregnum (1642–1660) Rescinded (1639–1651) This is
234-572: A deterrent, like permanent gallows for authorities endowed with high justice . The pillory was also in common use in other western countries and colonies, and similar devices were used in other, non-Western cultures. According to one source, the pillory was abolished as a form of punishment in the United States in 1839, but this cannot be entirely true because it was clearly in use in Delaware as recently as 1901. Governor Preston Lea finally signed
273-450: A diminutive of Latin pila 'pillar, stone barrier'. Rather like the lesser punishment called the stocks , the pillory consisted of hinged wooden boards forming holes through which the head or various limbs were inserted; then the boards were locked together to secure the captive. Pillories were set up to hold people in marketplaces, crossroads, and other public places. They were often placed on platforms to increase public visibility of
312-419: A pillory, by its physical nature, could double as a whipping post to tie a criminal down for public flagellation (as used to be the case in many German sentences to staupenschlag ), the two as such are separate punishments: the pillory is a sentence to public humiliation , whipping is essentially a painful corporal punishment. The combination of the pillory and the whipping post was one of the various punishments
351-462: 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 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 ...
390-454: Is Pelourinho , and there are examples which are monuments of great importance, in a tradition dating back to Roman times, when criminals were chained to them. They are stone columns with carved capitals, and they are usually located on the main square of the town, and/or in front of a major church or palace, or town hall: they symbolize local power and authority. Pelourinhos are considered major local monuments, several clearly bearing
429-645: 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 pillory is related to the stocks . The word is documented in English since 1274 (attested in Anglo-Latin from c. 1189 ), and stems from Old French pellori (1168; modern French pilori , see below), itself from medieval Latin pilloria , of uncertain origin, perhaps
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#1732847634264468-454: Is reported in England and among its troops. It fitted over the entire body, with the head sticking out from a hole in the top. The criminal is put in either an enclosed barrel, forcing him to kneel in his own filth, or an open barrel, also known as "barrel shirt" or "drunkards collar" after the punishable crime, leaving him to roam about town or military camp and be ridiculed and scorned. Although
507-403: 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
546-549: The Knights Templar . In July 1540, Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford of Heytesbury , was charged with treason for harbouring a known member of the Pilgrimage of Grace movement. He was also accused of buggery, as he was suspected of raping his own daughter. Hungerford was beheaded at Tower Hill , on 28 July 1540, the same day as Thomas Cromwell. Nicholas Udall , a cleric, playwright , and Headmaster of Eton College ,
585-591: The Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony applied to enforce religious and intellectual comformity on the whole community. Sometimes a single structure was built with separate locations for the two punishments, with a whipping post on the lower level and a pillory above (see image at right). When permanently present in sight of prisoners, whipping posts were thought to act as a deterrent against bad behaviour, especially when each prisoner had been subjected to
624-399: The " pilori " was usually limited to two hours. It was replaced in 1789 by "exposition", and abolished in 1832. Two types of devices were used: Like other permanent apparatus for physical punishment, the pillory was often placed prominently and constructed more elaborately than necessary. It served as a symbol of the power of the judicial authorities, and its continual presence was seen as
663-478: The "whipping post") or even permanent mutilation such as branding or having an ear cut off ( cropping ), as in the case of John Bastwick . In Protestant cultures (such as in the Scandinavian countries ), the pillory would be the worldly part of a church punishment. The delinquent would therefore first serve the ecclesiastical part of his punishment on the pillory bench in the church itself, and then be handed to
702-578: 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. Buggery remained a capital offence in England and Wales until
741-519: The Parliament of England, 1642–1660 for ordinances and acts passed by the Long Parliament and other bodies without royal assent , and which were not considered to be valid legislation following the Restoration in 1660. The number shown after each act's title is its chapter number. Acts are cited using this number, preceded by the years of the reign during which the relevant parliamentary session
780-582: The United Kingdom, see the list of acts of the Scottish Parliament , the list of acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly , and the list of acts and measures of Senedd Cymru ; see also the list of acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland . For medieval statutes, etc. that are not considered to be acts of Parliament, see the list of English statutes . See also the List of ordinances and acts of
819-499: The coat of arms of a king or queen. The same is true of its former colonies, notably in Brazil (in its former capital, Salvador , the whole old quarter is known as Pelourinho ) and Africa (e.g. Cape Verde's old capital, Cidade Velha ), always as symbols of royal power. In Spain, the device was called picota . There was a variant (rather of the stocks type), called a barrel pillory , or Spanish mantle, used to punish drunks, which
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#1732847634264858-508: 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 ( 9 Geo. 4 . c. 31). Buggery remained a capital offence until 1861, though the last executions were in 1835. The Act was piloted through Parliament by Henry VIII's minister Thomas Cromwell (though it
897-600: The enactment of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 . 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
936-624: The first day of the session in which they were passed. Because of this, the years given in the list below may in fact be the year before a particular act was passed. The fifth session of the 5th Parliament of King Henry VIII (the Reformation Parliament), which met at Westminster from 15 January 1534 until 30 March 1534. This session was also traditionally cited as 25 H. 8 . Note that cc. 23–34 were traditionally cited as private acts cc. 1 – 5 , 7 , 6 , 8 , 12 , and 9 – 11 respectively. Pillory The pillory
975-460: The first session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom are both cited as "41 Geo. 3". Acts passed by the Parliament of England did not have a short title ; however, some of these acts have subsequently been given a short title by acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (such as the Short Titles Act 1896 ). Acts passed by the Parliament of England were deemed to have come into effect on
1014-675: 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 and one year before the Act of Supremacy 1534 . 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 against
1053-411: The person; often a placard detailing the crime was placed nearby. These punishments generally lasted only a few hours. In being forced to bend forward and stick their head and hands out in front of them, offenders in the pillory would have been extremely uncomfortable during their punishment. However, the main purpose in putting criminals in the pillory was to humiliate them publicly. On discovering that
1092-490: The pillory because crowds could get too violent and pelt the offender with stones, bricks and other dangerous objects. However, when Daniel Defoe was sentenced to the pillory in 1703 for seditious libel , he was regarded as a hero by the crowd and was pelted with flowers. The criminal could also be sentenced to further punishments while in the pillory: humiliation by shaving off some or all hair or regular corporal punishment (s), notably flagellation (the pillory serving as
1131-429: The pillory was occupied, people would excitedly gather in the marketplace to taunt, tease and laugh at the offender on display. Those who gathered to watch the punishment typically wanted to make the offender's experience as unpleasant as possible. In addition to being jeered and mocked, the criminal might be pelted with rotten food, mud, offal, dead animals, and animal excrement. Sometimes people were killed or maimed in
1170-468: The pillory—a punishment which is never inflicted." However, the stocks remained in use, though extremely infrequently, until 1872. The last person to be pilloried in England was Peter James Bossy, who was convicted of "wilful and corrupt perjury" in 1830. He was sentenced to seven years penal transportation , six months in prison at Newgate and one hour in the pillory in the Old Bailey. In France, time in
1209-414: The point of starvation. While the pillory has left common use, the image remains preserved in the figurative use, which has become the dominant one, of the verb "to pillory" (attested in English since 1699), meaning "to expose to public ridicule, scorn and abuse", or more generally to humiliate before witnesses. Corresponding expressions exist in other languages, e.g., clouer au pilori "to nail to
Buggery Act 1533 - Misplaced Pages Continue
1248-511: The traditional term of sodomy. The last two Englishmen who were hanged for sodomy were executed in 1835, when James Pratt and John Smith died in front of the Newgate Prison in London on 27 November. The Act was repealed by section 1 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1828 ( 9 Geo. 4 . c. 31) and by section 125 of the Criminal Law (India) Act 1828 (c. 74). It was replaced by section 15 of
1287-401: 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
1326-458: The worldly authorities to be bound to the Skampåle (literally: "Shame Pole") for public humiliation. In 1816, use of the pillory was restricted in England as punishment for perjury or subornation . The pillory was formally abolished as a form of punishment in England and Wales in 1837, after Lord John Russell had said "I shall likewise propose to bring in a Bill to abolish the punishment of
1365-464: Was concluded that fellatio between an adult man and an underage boy was not punishable under this 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 in 1885, which added the charge of gross indecency to
1404-475: Was held; thus the Union with Ireland Act 1800 is cited as "39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 67", meaning the 67th act passed during the session that started in the 39th year of the reign of George III and which finished in the 40th year of that reign. Note that the modern convention is to use Arabic numerals in citations (thus "41 Geo. 3" rather than "41 Geo. III"). Acts of the last session of the Parliament of Great Britain and
1443-453: 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
1482-471: Was re-enacted by Queen Elizabeth I in 1562, "An act for the punishment of the vice of buggery". Although "homosexual prosecutions throughout the sixteenth century [were] 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 , was beheaded because of his rank. Numerous prosecutions that resulted in
1521-473: 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 and he was released in less than a year. He went on to become headmaster of Westminster School . The Act was repealed in 1553 on accession of the staunchly Catholic Queen Mary , who preferred such legal matters adjudicated in ecclesiastical courts . However, it
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