Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, commonly known as the Labouchere Amendment, made gross indecency a crime in the United Kingdom. The Act contained no definition of "gross indecency," as Victorian morality demurred from precise descriptions of activity held to be immoral. In practice, the law was used broadly to prosecute male homosexuals where actual sodomy (meaning, in this context, anal intercourse) could not be proven. The penalty of life imprisonment for sodomy (until 1861 it had been death) was also so harsh that successful prosecutions were rare. The new law was much more enforceable. They were both repealed by the Sexual Offences Act 1967, which decriminalized homosexual behaviour.
Most famously, Oscar Wilde was convicted under section 11 and sentenced to 2 years' hard labour, and Alan Turing was convicted under it and sentenced to chemical castration.
Read more about Labouchere Amendment: Origin, Text, Prosecutions, Repeal
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