Discover

The English term 'buggery' is very close in meaning to the term sodomy, and is often used interchangeably in law and popular speech. It is also a specific criminal offence under the English common law.

Contents

The Law

Etymology

References

Sources

The Law

Under most common law legal systems, the term buggery is a criminal offence with a specific legal meaning. In English law, "buggery" was first used in the Buggery Act 1533, while section 61 of the Offences Against The Person Act 1861 used "sodomy" in the heading but "buggery" in the text. Neither Act defined what constituted bugger. Over the years the courts have defined buggery as including either:
# anal intercourse by a man with a man or woman,^[1] or
# or vaginal intercourse by either a man or a woman with an animal,^[2]
but not any other form of "unnatural intercourse".^[3]
At common law consent was not a defence;^[4] nor was the fact that the parties were married.^[5] As with the crime of rape, buggery required that penetration must have occurred, but ejaculation is not necessary.^[6]
Most common law countries have now modified the law to permit anal sex between consenting adults.^[7]

Etymology

The word ''bugger'' and ''buggery'' are still commonly used in modern English as a profanity, and "buggery" is also synonymous with anal sex.
The word "bugger" was derived from "Bulgar", that is, "Bulgarian", meaning the medieval Bulgarian sect of the Bogomils, which spread into Western Europe and was branded by the established church as particularly devoted to the practice of sodomy.^[8]

References

1. ''R v Wiseman'' (1718) Fortes Rep 91
2. ''R v Bourne'' (1952) 36 Cr App R 135; Sir Edward Coke also reports "... a great lady had committed buggery with a baboon and conceived by it..." at 3 Inst 59
3. ''R v Jacobs'' (1817) Russ & Ry 331
4. Because consent was not required, in sentencing it meant that lack of consent had to be proved to impose the more serious sentences - see ''R v Sandhu'' [1997] Crim LR 288; ''R v Davies'' [1998] 1 Cr App Rep (S) 252
5. ''R v Jellyman'' (1838) 8 C&P 604
6. ''R v Reekspear'' (1832) 1 Mood CC 342; ''R v Cozins'' (1834) 6 C&P 351
7. For example, in the United Kingdom homosexual anal sex was legalised under the Sexual Offences Act 1967. Perhaps ironically, heterosexual anal sex was not subsequently legalised until the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
8. New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd edition, , , , Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-19-517077-6

Sources

★ Smith & Hogan, ''Criminal Law'' (10th ed), ISBN 0 406 94801 1