In English criminal law, a disorderly house is a house in which the conduct of its inhabitants is such as to become a public nuisance, or outrages public decency, or tends to corrupt or deprave, or injures the public interest; or a house where persons congregate to the probable disturbance of the public peace or other commission of crime. To persistently or habitually keep a disorderly house is an offence against the common law, punishable by fine or imprisonment.[1]
The usual charge for keeping a brothel where prostitution can be proven, for instance, is under section 33A of the Sexual Offences Act 1956, "Keeping a Brothel for Prostitution", and the penalty is up to six months if proceeding summarily or seven years if by indictment. (The definition of a brothel in English law has been held to be "a place where people of opposite sexes are allowed to resort for illicit intercourse, whether…common prostitutes or not"[2] and thus prostitution need not form part of the picture; a soapland is, in the eyes of the law of England, a brothel without prostitution.) Brothel-keeping can, however, also be charged as "Keeping a Disorderly House" (contrary to the common law rather than any written statute), and is then punishable by an unlimited fine, and unlimited imprisonment.
The "operator" of a crack house or opium den can also be charged with keeping a disorderly house, as can the owner/operator of an illegal gambling establishment, as well as the owner of a speakeasy, "blind tiger", or "boozecan" (illegal bar or pub). Modern vice laws, regulating such things as drinking, gambling, dancing, and drugs, have resulted in calls for the offence of keeping a disorderly house to be abolished.[citation needed]
As brothel-keeping is one of the most common causes for the charge of keeping a disorderly house, "disorderly house" has become something of a euphemism for brothel in the English legal community; brothel or "disorderly house"-related statutory offences can be found under sections 33 to 36 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956,[3] as well as in sections 51A to 56 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.[4] These are, however, not to be confused with the common law offence of Keeping A Disorderly House.
History
editThere were formerly statutory provisions relating to disorderly houses under:
- the Disorderly Houses Act 1751.[5]
- sections 1 and 2 of the Sunday Observance Act 1780.[6]
Both acts have been repealed in the UK.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 313.
- ^ Winter v Woolfe [1931] KB 549.
- ^ "Sexual Offences Act 1956". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
- ^ "Sexual Offences Act 2003", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 2003 c. 42
- ^ Disorderly Houses Act 1751
- ^ Sunday Observance Act 1780
Further reading
edit- Archbold Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice (2008) 20–246 to 20-251