Court of Criminal Appeal
| Published date | 01 April 1947 |
| Date | 01 April 1947 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201834701100204 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Court of Criminal Appeal
THE
MEANING
OF 'GROSS
INDECENCY'
R. v. Hornby &Peapte
Two men having been discovered
by
a police constable
in a certain posture,
they
were charged on two counts of
an
indictment respectively with committing
an
act
of gross
indecency with one
another
and
with
attempted
buggery.
There was no evidence of
any
actual physical contact
between
the
two men, though
the
circumstances were
undoubtedly of
an
indecent character. There was a denial
by
each
man
that
he was a
party
to
the
act
of
the
other.
The chairman of
quarter
sessions said to
the
jury:
"If
you
consider
that
the
actual
attitude
in which these men
were found did
not
go as
far
as
attempted
buggery,
then
you
have
to
consider whether
an
act
of gross indecency
was committed".
The
jury
brought in a verdict of
Not
Guilty of
attempted
buggery
and
Guilty of gross indecency.
On appeal (62 T.L. R. 629)
it
was held (Lord Goddard,
L.C.].. Lynskey
and
Sellers
JJ.)
that
the
chairman should
have directed
the
jury
that
they
must
find
that
the
men
were acting in concert before
they
could be found guilty
of gross indecency with one
another
and
that
as no such
direction was given
and
the
inference from
the
evidence
was
that
possibly
they
were
not
acting in concert,
the
convictions
must
be quashed. The
jury
might
have
been
directed, on
the
facts,
that
they
could draw
the
inference
that
the
appellants were in fact acting in concert from
the
circumstances proved
by
the
constable, if
they
accepted his
evidence
and
rejected
the
evidence of
the
appellants,
but
no such direction was given.
The
judgment of
the
Court, delivered
by
Lynskey J.
contains
an
interesting obiter dictum on
another
point in
connection with this offence.
The
question was argued
whether actual physical touching is essential
to
constitute
the
offence of gross indecency
by
one male person with
another. LynskeyJ.
said:
"In
my
view,
it
is
not
necessary
176
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