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A.D. 1878. any person from being subjected to any other punishment to which he may be rendered liable if by such act he becomes an accessory after the fact to any indictable offence, but no person shall be subjected hereby to more than one punishment in respect of one act.

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Everyone shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and shall upon conviction thereof be liable to imprisonment, who by failing to perform any legal duty unintentionally permits a person in his lawful custody to escape therefrom: Provided that no person shall be 10 liable to be prosecuted under this section if before he is so prosecuted he re-takes the escaped person.

SECTION 96.

AGREEMENTS NOT TO PROSECUTE.

Everyone shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and shall upon 15 conviction thereof be liable to imprisonment, who, without an order made by a court or by a judge of the Supreme Court of Justice,(a.) Agrees in respect of any valuable consideration not to prosecute any person for any indictable offence for which he might be imprisoned with hard labour, or to show favour to any person in any such prosecution; or

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(b.) Having brought, or under colour of bringing, or of abstaining from bringing, an action against any person under any penal statute in order to obtain from him any penalty, compounds the said action without order or consent of the court, or corruptly abstains from 25 bringing it, whether any offence has in fact been committed or not; or

(c.) Sues any person in the name of a fictitious plaintiff, or in the name of a real person, but without his authority.

SECTION 97.

CHAMPERTY, MAINTENANCE, AND COMMON BARRATORS.

From the passing of this Act no one shall be prosecuted for champerty or maintenance, or for being a common barrator.

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Everyone shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and shall be liable upon conviction thereof to imprisonment, who publishes any 10 blasphemous libel. Whether any particular publication is or is not a blasphemous libel shall be a question of fact: Provided that no one (except a clergyman of the Church of England, charged before an ecclesiastical court with an offence against the laws ecclesiastical) shall be liable to any punishment or disability whatever, either at 15 common law or under the provisions of any statute only for expressing in good faith, or attempting to establish by arguments used in good faith, any opinion whatever upon any religious subject.

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SECTION 99.

ASSAULTING MINISTERS OF RELIGION.

Everyone shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and shall be liable upon conviction thereof to two years imprisonment and hard labour,

(a.) Who by threats or force obstructs or prevents, or endeavours to obstruct or prevent, any clergyman or other minister in or from 25 lawfully celebrating divine service or otherwise officiating in any church, chapel, meeting-house, or other place of divine worship, or in or from the performance of his duty in the lawful burial of the dead in any churchyard or other burial place;

(b.) Or who strikes or offers any violence, or arrests upon or 30 under the pretence of executing any civil process any clergyman or other minister engaged in or to the knowledge of the offender about to engage in any of the rites or duties mentioned in the last clause, or to the knowledge of the offender going to perform the same, or returning from the performance thereof.

A.D. 1878.

SECTION 100.

DISTURBING PUBLIC WORSHIP.

Everyone shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and shall be liable upon conviction thereof to imprisonment, who wilfully and without legal justification or excuse disquiets or disturbs any meeting, 5 assembly, or congregation of persons lawfully assembled for religious worship, or in any way disturbs, molests, or misuses any preacher, teacher, or person lawfully officiating at such meeting, assembly, or congregation, or any person or persons there assembled, or who is guilty of any riotous, violent, or indecent behaviour in any place of 10 public worship, whether during the celebration of public worship or at any other time, or in any churchyard or burial ground.

CHAPTER XV.

OFFENCES AGAINST MORALITY.

SECTION 101.

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SODOMY.

Sodomy is the act of a person who

(a.) Carnally knows or permits himself or herself to be carnally known by any living creature other than a human being; or,

(b.) Being a male, carnally knows any man or any woman against 20 the order of nature; or

(c.) Permits himself or herself to be so carnally known as afore

said.

Everyone who commits sodomy shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and upon conviction thereof shall be sentenced to penal 25 servitude for life, or for any period not less than ten years, and to no other punishment.

SECTION 102.

ATTEMPT TO COMMIT SODOMY.

Everyone who attempts to commit sodomy, or touches any person, or consents to be touched by any person, with intent to excite or gratify any unnatural lust in himself or in that other person, shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and shall be liable upon conviction thereof to ten years penal servitude.

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A.D. 1878.

SECTION 103.

PUBLIC INDECENCIES.

Everyone shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and shall upon conviction thereof be liable to be imprisoned with hard labour for 5 two years, who does any grossly indecent act in any place to which the public have or are permitted to have access, or which is so situated that what passes there can be seen by any considerable number of persons if they happen to look, or who does any such act in any place intending thereby or so as to insult or offend any person 10 or persons by whom he knows or has reasonable grounds for knowing that such act will or may be observed.

SECTION 104.

OBSCENE PUBLICATIONS.

Everyone shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and shall upon 15 conviction thereof be liable to be imprisoned with hard labour for two years, who knowingly and without justification-

(a.) Publicly sells, or exposes for public sale or to public view, any obscene book, print, picture, model, or other object; or

(b.) Publicly exhibits any disgusting object or other indecent 20 exhibition.

A person is justified in publishing or exhibiting such things as are herein-before referred to if their publication or exhibition is, in the opinion of the jury, for the public good, as being necessary or advantageous to religion or morality, to the administration of justice, 25 the pursuit of science, literature, or art, or other objects of general interest; but the justification ceases if the publication or exhibition is made in such a manner, to such an extent, or under such circumstances as to exceed what the public good, in the opinion of the jury, requires in regard to the particular matter published or exhi30 bited. The motives of the publisher or exhibiter in making any such publication or exhibition are immaterial.

SECTION 105.

DEFILING GIRLS UNDER AGE.

Everyone shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and shall be 35 liable upon conviction thereof to two years imprisonment with hard labour, who, by false pretences, or false representations, or other fraudulent means, procures any woman or girl, under the age of twenty-one years, to have illicit carnal connexion with any man.

A.D. 1878.

SECTION 100.

DISTURBING PUBLIC WORSHIP.

Everyone shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and shall be liable upon conviction thereof to imprisonment, who wilfully and without legal justification or excuse disquiets or disturbs any meeting, 5 assembly, or congregation of persons lawfully assembled for religious worship, or in any way disturbs, molests, or misuses any preacher, teacher, or person lawfully officiating at such meeting, assembly, or congregation, or any person or persons there assembled, or who is guilty of any riotous, violent, or indecent behaviour in any place of 10 public worship, whether during the celebration of public worship or at any other time, or in any churchyard or burial ground.

CHAPTER XV.

OFFENCES AGAINST MORALITY.

SECTION 101.

SODOMY.

Sodomy is the act of a person who

(a.) Carnally knows or permits himself or herself to be carnally known by any living creature other than a human being; or,

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(b.) Being a male, carnally knows any man or any woman against 20 the order of nature; or

(c.) Permits himself or herself to be so carnally known as aforesaid.

Everyone who commits sodomy shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and upon conviction thereof shall be sentenced to penal 25 servitude for life, or for any period not less than ten years, and to no other punishment.

SECTION 102.

ATTEMPT TO COMMIT SODOMY.

Everyone who attempts to commit sodomy, or touches any person, or consents to be touched by any person, with intent to excite or gratify any unnatural lust in himself or in that other person, shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and shall be liable upon conviction thereof to ten years penal servitude.

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