Parliamentary Bills
| DOI | 10.1177/002201836603000208 |
| Published date | 01 April 1966 |
| Date | 01 April 1966 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Parliamentary
Bills
A Parliamentary Bill does not always reach the Statute Book. Bills are
frequently amended before
becoming
Acts
of
Parliament. This section should be
read accordingly.
SEXUAL OFFENCES
BILL
=II:
The
substantial and controversial content of this Bill is
contained in Clause
I:
that
ahomosexual act committed in
private shall not be an offence if the parties consent and are
both
2 I years old.
The
remaining clauses deal with comparatively minor
matters:
(I) An act is not
'in
private' if a
third
party is present or
if it is committed in a public lavatory.
(2) Aperson suffering from severe subnormality within
the
meaning of
the
Mental Health Act 1959 cannot
consent to a homosexual act,
but
where this is
the
reason for absence of consent there shall be no con-
viction if the defendant neither knew nor should have
known of the mental condition.
(3)
The
maximum sentence for buggery with aman of or
over 16 years shall be:
(a)
if
there is consent two years unless
the
prisoner is
21
years or over and the other man is
under
21,
when it shall be 5 years;
(b)
where there is no consent
10
years, instead of life
imprisonment.
(4)
The
maximum sentence on a
man
21
years of age or
over convicted of either gross indecency with aman
under
21
or of an attempt to procure a man under
21
years to commit an act of gross indecency with another
man shall be 5 years' imprisonment instead of 2years.
(5) Procuring another man to commit buggery with a
third man in private (which is not itself an offence) is
an offence punishable with 2years' imprisonment.
129
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