Prostitution in the UK - is it lawful?

[lovingboth]

I know it's not illegal (although various related activities are) but is it lawful?

Memory is telling me it isn't: thus you can't enforce a contract based on sex in the courts, just as you can't enforce a gambling debt.

The case I remember involved a woman who agreed to part-pay for a car through having sex with the seller a number of times. When she stopped having sex with him before then, he sued to get the car back for breach of contract and lost (and if anyone has a reference for that case, I'd be grateful!)

Memory is also telling me homosexual acts aren't 'lawful' either, merely decriminalised...

Comments

[lizw.livejournal.com]

It isn't a crime at common law, and I can't think of a relevant tort, so I think it must be lawful. As zotz says, the reason the contract was unenforceable was because it was for an immoral purpose, not an unlawful one. Same goes for gambling. I would be surprised if homosexual acts were still considered either unlawful or immoral by the English Courts, but I haven't researched it recently.

[lovingboth]

"But there is a material difference between merely exempting certain conduct from criminal penalties [in this case homosexual acts] and making it lawful in the full sense. Prostitution and gaming afford examples of this difference" - Lord Reid, giving the lead opinion in the gay personal ads case.

I'm getting the impression the spectrum goes lawful - not lawful - unlawful. The former has rights, the middle doesn't. But the latter has penalties, and the middle doesn't.

AIUI, it's like the difference between decriminalising say cannabis and legalising it. Various campaigners want the former because that means big companies wouldn't be able to take over the market - it wouldn't be lawful...

Both this lot of defendents and Shaw were convicted for conspiracy to corrupt public morals. In both cases, the Law Lords said morality is for juries to decide, as representatives of that public. The only reason the publishers of Boyz and QX aren't behind bars for printing way way more explicit ads than either of their predecessors is that a (properly chosen) jury would never convict now.

I'm less sure why they've not been convicted of living on earnings of prostitution... Someone's clearly decided not to prosecute - but if they were done for it, I'd be fascinated to hear their defence.

[lizw.livejournal.com]

Evidently there's room for disagreement on the distinction. There was another case recently about whether or not it was a criminal offence to tighten the tourniquet for someone while they injected themselves with an overdose. Taking an illegal substance (as opposed to possessing it) has never been criminalised; committing suicide used to be a crime, but isn't any more. The judgment in that case proceeded on the basis that what the deceased was doing was lawful.

[lovingboth]

Did they know they were taking an overdose, ie were they trying to commit suicide?

[lizw.livejournal.com]

It was probably intended as recreational use, but the Court considered both possibilities.