Lord, in contempt thereof by any contemptuous words, or by any words of depraving, despising, or reviling, or by advisedly in any other wise contemning, despising or reviling the said sacrament.

ARTICLE 165.

DEPRAVING THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER.

1 Every one commits a misdemeanor and is liable upon conviction thereof to the punishments hereinafter mentioned, who does any of the following things; that is to say,

(a.) Who in any interlude, play, song, rhymes, or other open words, declares or speaks anything in derogation, depraving, or despising of the Book of Common Prayer, or of anything therein contained, or any part thereof; or

(b.) Who by open fact, deed, or open threatenings, compels, causes, or otherwise procures or maintains any parson, vicar, or other minister, in any cathedral or parish church or chapel, or in any other place, to sing or say any common or open prayer, or to minister any sacrament otherwise or in any other manner or form than is mentioned in the said book;

(c) Who by any of the said means unlawfully interrupts and lets any parson, vicar, or other minister in any cathedral or parish church or chapel, in singing or saying common or open prayer, or ministering the sacraments, or any of them, in the manner mentioned in the said book.

For the first offence the offender must be fined one hundred marks, and in default of payment within six weeks after his conviction, must be imprisoned for six months.

statutes of præmunire, which, with hardly an exception, are only historical monuments of bygone political and religious conflicts, imposing penalties on acts which it is barely conceivable that any one should do in the present state of society. The subject is treated fully in the 7th Report of the Criminal Law Commissioners, pp. 37-45. The offences are appealing to Rome from any of the Queen's Courts (24 Hen. 8, c. 12); asserting that Parliament has a legislative authority without the Crown (3 Car. 2, c. 1); and some others.

1 1 Eliz. c. 2, s. 3, applied to the present Book of Common Prayer by 14 Car. 2, c. 4, s. 20.

For the second offence the offender must be fined four hundred marks, and in default of payment as aforesaid must be imprisoned for twelve months.

For the third offence the offender must forfeit to the Queen all his goods and chattels and be imprisoned for life.

ARTICLE 166.

CLERGYMEN REFUSING TO USE THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER.

1 Every one commits a misdemeanor and is liable upon conviction thereof to the punishments hereinafter mentioned, who, being a parson, vicar, or other minister whatsoever, that ought or should sing or say common prayer according to the Book of Common Prayer,

(a.) Refuses to use the said common prayer, or to minister the sacrament, in such cathedral or parish church, or other place, as he should use or minister the same;

(b.) Uses, wilfully and obstinately standing in the same, any other rite, ceremony, order, or form of mass, openly or privily, or matins, evensong, administration of the sacrament, or other 2 open prayer than is mentioned and set forth in the said book;

(c.) Preaches, declares, or speaks anything in derogation or depraving of the said book, or anything therein contained, or of any part thereof.

For the first offence the offender must forfeit to the Queen one year's profit of such of his benefices as Her Majesty appoints, and be imprisoned for six months, whether he has any benefice or not.

For the second offence the offender must be deprived ipso facto of all his spiritual promotions, and be imprisoned for a year, and if he has no promotion he must be imprisoned for

life.

1 2 & 3 Edw. 6, c. 1; 14 Car. 2, c. 4, s. 20, and see 1 Eliz. c. 2, s. 2, which slightly varies the penalty on one point.

2

By "open prayer is meant that prayer which is for others to come unto or hear, either in common churches, or private chapels, or oratories, commonly called the Service of the Church."

For the third offence the offender must be imprisoned for life.

ARTICLE 167.

DISTURBING PUBLIC WORSHIP.

(a.) 1 Every one commits a misdemeanor and is liable, upon conviction thereof, to a fine of forty pounds, who wilfully and maliciously or contemptuously disquiets or disturbs any meeting, assembly, or congregation of persons 2 lawfully assembled for religious worship, or in any way disturbs, molests, or misuses any preacher, teacher, or person officiating at such meeting, assembly, or congregation, or any person or persons there assembled.

3

(b.) 3 Every one commits a misdemeanor and is liable upon conviction thereof, before two justices of the peace, to a fine not exceeding five pounds, or, if the justices think it, to imprisonment for any time not exceeding two months,

who is guilty of riotous, violent, or indecent behaviour in any cathedral church, parish or district church or chapel of the Church of England or in any chapel of any religious denomination, or in England in any place of religious worship, duly certified under 18 & 19 Vict. c. 81, whether during the celebration of divine service or at any other time, or in any churchyard or burial ground; or

who molests, lets, disturbs, vexes, or troubles, or by any other unlawful means disquiets or misuses any preacher duly authorized to preach therein, or any clergyman in holy orders ministering or celebrating any sacrament or any divine service, rite, or office in any cathedral, church, or chapel, or in any churchyard or burial ground.

152 Geo. 3, c. 155, s. 12. Draft Code, s. 143.

2 This Act was originally confined to all Protestant Dissenters other than Quakers, but was extended to all persons lawfully assembled for religious worship by 9 & 10 Vict. c. 59, s. 4.

323 & 24 Vict. c. 32, s. 2. This Act abolished the jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Courts over laymen for brawling.

The Act extends to Ireland.

CHAPTER XVIII.

OFFENCES AGAINST MORALITY.

ARTICLE 168.

SODOMY.

1 EVERY one commits the felony called sodomy, and is liable upon conviction thereof to penal servitude for life, as a maximum, and to penal servitude for ten years as a minimum punishment, who

(a.) Carnally knows any animal; or,

(b.) Being a male, carnally knows any man or any woman. (per anum).

Any person above the age of fourteen years who permits himself or herself to be so carnally known as aforesaid is a principal in the first degree in the said felony.

ARTICLE 169.

ATTEMPT TO COMMIT SODOMY.

Every one who attempts to commit sodomy is guilty of a misdemeanor, and is liable upon conviction thereof to ten years penal servitude as a maximum punishment.

3

ARTICLE 170.

ECCLESIASTICAL CENSURES FOR IMMORALITY.

Every person who commits incest, adultery, fornication,

124 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 61; see cases in 1 Russ. Cr. (5th ed.) 879-82. See

2 Hist. Cr. Law, 429-30. As to carnal knowledge see Article 254, post. Draft Code, s. 144

224 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 62. Draft Code, s. 145.

Incest,

313 Edw. 1, c. 4; 53 Geo. 3, c. 127, ss. 1-3; and see Phillimore's Eccl. Law, 1081, 1442: also Phillimore v. Machon, 1 P. D. 481; Co. Litt. 96 b. though not mentioned in the statute "Circumspecté agatis," is the only offence which in these days is ever prosecuted under the law here stated. Such a prosecution occurred within the last few years in the Bishop of Chichester's Court. See 2 Hist. Cr. Law, 396-429.

or any other deadly sin (not punishable at common law), is liable upon conviction thereof in an ecclesiastical Court to be directed to do penance, and to be excommunicated, and to be imprisoned for such term not exceeding six months as the Court pronouncing the sentence of excommunication may direct.

1

2

ARTICLE 171.

PUBLIC INDECENCIES.

1 Every one commits a misdemeanor who does any grossly indecent act in any open and public place in the presence of more persons than one; but it is uncertain whether such conduct in a public place amounts to a misdemeanor if it is done when no one is present, or in the presence of one person only.

3A place is public within the meaning of this Article if it is so situated that what passes there can be seen by any considerable number of persons if they happen to look.

Illustrations.

The following are instances of public places :

4 The inside of an omnibus ;

5 The roof of a house visible from the back windows of several houses; "The inside of a urinal open to the public, and by the side of a footpath in Hyde Park;

The inside of a booth on Epsom racecourse, which the public were invited to enter.

1 1 Hawk. P. C. 358. The acts referred to are principally acts of open indecency, but an act scandalously profligate, though not in this sense openly indecent, might in some cases be a misdemeanor, as, e.g., selling a wife. See per Lord Mansfield in R. v. Delaval, 3 Burr. 1438. If the act done is a public and indecent exposure of the person the offender may on conviction be sentenced to hard labour. 14 & 15 Vict. c. 100, s. 29, and see Article 193 (d.), (e.). Draft Code, s. 146.

2 Elliot's Case, L. & C. 103.

Webb's Case, 1 Den. 338; Holmes's Case, Dears. 207; R. v. Orchard, 3 Cox, C. C. 248; R. v. Rouverard, stated by Parke, B., in R. v. Webb, 1 Den. 344. R. v. Holmes, Dears. 207.

5 Thallman's Case, L. & C. 326.

6 R. v. Harris, L. R. 1 C. C. R. 282.

1 R. v. Saunders, 1 Q. B. D. 18.