Rape, Abduction and Defilement of Women
Section 48 - Rape
This section provided that a person guilty of rape was liable to be kept in penal servitude for life or for any term not less than three years or to be imprisoned (with or without hard labour) for any term not exceeding two years.
It was a revised version of section 16 of the Offences against the Person Act 1828, incorporating the non-textual amendments made to that section by section 3 of the Substitution of Punishments of Death Act 1841 (4 & 5 Vict c 56) and section 2 of the Penal Servitude Act 1857. It replaced section 16 of the 1828 Act and the corresponding provision in section 3 of the 1841 Act, which were repealed.
In England and Wales, this section was repealed and replaced by section 1(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 1956. In Northern Ireland, repeal of this section was consequential upon the codification of the law relating to sexual offences by the Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008.
Section 49 - Procuring, by false pretences, false representations or other fraud, a girl under 21 to have illicit carnal connexion with any man
The expression 'illicit carnal connexion' means extramarital sexual intercourse.
This section replaced section 1 of the 12 & 13 Vict c 76 (1849) (procuring the defilement of women).
This section was repealed and replaced by section 2(1) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885
Carnal knowledge of girls under 12
See carnal knowledge
Section 50 replaced section 17 of the Offences against the Person Act 1828 and the corresponding provision in section 3 of the Substitution of Punishments of Death Act 1841 (4 & 5 Vict c 56) and incorporated the non-textual amendment made by section 2 of the Penal Servitude Act 1857.
Sections 50 and 51 were repealed by section 2 of the Offences against the Person Act 1875. They were replaced by sections 3 and 4 of that Act (also replaced) which had a broader scope.
Section 52 - Indecent assault upon a female
In England and Wales, this section was repealed and replaced by section 14(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 1956. In Northern Ireland, repeal of this section was consequential upon the codification of the law relating to sexual offences.
Abduction
Sections 53 to 56 were repealed in the Republic of Ireland by section 31 of, and the Schedule to, the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act 1997.
Sections 53 and 54 created various offences of abduction, including:
Forcible abduction of any woman with intent to marry or carnally know her. This would be charged as the common law offences of kidnapping and false imprisonment, or rape, and/or human trafficking under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
In England and Wales, section 53 was repealed and replaced by sections 17 and 18 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956. In England and Wales, section 54 was repealed and replaced by section 17(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 1956. In Northern Ireland, repeal of these sections was consequential upon the codification of the law relating to sexual offences.
Section 55 - Abduction of a girl under 16
In England and Wales, this section was repealed and replaced by section 20 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956. In Northern Ireland, repeal of this section was consequential upon the codification of the law relating to sexual offences.
Read more about this topic: Offences Against The Person Act 1861
Famous quotes containing the words abduction and/or women:
“Some men have sighed over the abduction of their wives, but many more have sighed because no one wanted to abduct theirs.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Can you conceive what it is to native-born American women citizens, accustomed to the advantages of our schools, our churches and the mingling of our social life, to ask over and over again for so simple a thing as that “we, the people,” should mean women as well as men; that our Constitution should mean exactly what it says?”
—Mary F. Eastman, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4 ch. 5, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)