Laws of Ethelbert - Fines payable 'if a man takes a widow who does not belong to him'
Code of Alfred the Great made it lawful for any man to kill another if he found him 'with his wedded wife, or mother, daughter, or sister'
King Cnut forbade married men from 'fornicating with their own slaves and adulteresses should be publicly disgraced, lose their goods, and have ears and noses cut off.
Establishment of the Church's own permanent courts from about 1100 onwards transformed the punishment of sexual offences amongst the population at large. The rise of towns and cities led to the addition of new civic penalties against adultery, fornication, prostitution.
1161 – Henry II – Bishop of Winchester licences brothels and prostitutes. This led to the ladies being known as ‘Winchester Geese’. The Bishop far from frowning at the activity enjoyed the revenue gained from taxing it.
Prohibition against organised prostitution. The city of London prohibited any 'Whore of a brothel' from living within the walls. This was a prohibition agaisnt organised prostitution rather than general immorality.
In 1310 Edward II ordered the mayor and sheriff of London to abolish brothels in an attempt to control thieves and murderers thought to also be harboured in them.
In 1351, the council passed an ordinance against 'common lewd women' wearing fur or 'noble lining'. They were instead to wear ray (striped) hoods. The London legislation prohibiting whores from dressing like 'good and noble dames and damsels'.
Continued from the ordinance of 1351, the law stated that 'all common whores, and all women reputed as such, should have hoods of ray only' By allowing this, any one could be reputed to be a whore and the officials could harass these women, the more expensive garments could also be confiscated by the officials. (motive?)
The White book of the City of London by John Carpenter, which was the first book of English common law. Required the banishment of all whores from the city.
The chancellors of the universities considered the interaction of students with women of the towns a problem. In 1461 the chancellor of Oxford was authorised 'to banish from a circumference of ten miles around said university all bawds, whores and incontinent women'. The chancellor of Oxford also enforced penalties of imprisonment, fines, and the pillory against whores.
Aldermen were to inquire 'specially of vagabonds, common bawds, and common women'. 1543 - 'the good and laudable ancient laws, acts, and ordinances theretofore made and devised for the punishment of harlots and bawds of the stews and other common women and women of incontinent life' needed to be carried out. In later pieces of legislation there are few references to stewhouses and brothels, but the main thrust was agaisnt immoral women.
1552 - Revised canon law by Archbishop Cranmer. Various forms of punishment for 'whores, fornicators and adulterers' some of these including life inprisoment, exile, stoning and searing with hot irons.
Parliament passes an act 'for supressing the detestable sins of incest, adultery, and fornication.' Brothel keepers would be whipped, branded on the forehead with a capital B, and imprisoned for three years. repeat offending would result in death.
Prostitution was now treated as a separate offence, the draft bill orderered that 'common strumpets' were to be flushed out, and punished as vagrants. Keepers of taverns and ale houses would be banned from admitting 'suspicious women' after dark. Procurers and brothel-keepers were to be fined, pilloried, and if nesscary banished oversees.
Concerns over the spread of prostitution led to a bill in 1698 that would lead to branding, hanging etc. Main aim to clamp down on sexual rendezvous in places such as hackney coaches.
The Vagrancy act criminalised prostitution with punishment up to 1 month hard labour. This act also made it a crime for men to live from immoral earnings. This law introduced the term 'common prostitute' into English law.
1840 – Brothels suppression act – failed to pass.
Another law of the Victorian era to restrict prostitution was the 'Town police clauses act 1847' This made it an offence for 'common prostitutes' to assemble at any 'place of public resort' such as coffee shops.
1848 – Bill for the protection of females – failed to pass.
The contagious dieseases acts were introduced in the 1860's, adopting the French system of licensed prostitution, with the goal of minimising venereal disease. Prostitutes were subjected to compulsory checks for venereal disease, and imprisonment until cured.
This act made numerous changes that affected prostition, including crimnalising the act of procuring girls for prostitution by administering drugs or intimidation or fraud. Suppression of brothels and raising the age of consent for women from 12 to 16.
After a campaign by Josephine Butler, legalised prostitution was stopped in 1886.
A large, multi part law that included sections that prohibited the management of brothels and made it an offence for a landlord to let a property in the knowledge that it would be used as a brothel. This act also made it an offence for a man to live from the earnings of a prostitute (Pimping) or anyone to detain or compel someone into prostitution.
The Street offences act 1959 - prohibited loitering or soliciting "in a street or public place for the purpose of prostitution. This act also covered the offence of living from the earnings of a prostitute and control of the women involved.
Under the Criminal justice and police act 2001 – it is an offence to place an advertisement relating to prostitution on a public telephone, with the intention that the advertisement should come to the attention of others. This includes the services of male and female prostitutes and advertisements about premises at which such services are available. Conviction can end in up to six months imprisonment or a fine.
Sexual offences act 2003 – replaced the 1956 Sexual offences act. Much more focussed on the crime of the person procuring the services. Updating of terms such as defective and the removal of offences concerning homosexuality.
Human Trafficking and exploitation act 2015 - Northern Ireland – paying for sex became illegal 2015
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