PROSTITUTES, LAW As TO. It is not an offense in this co entry for a person to carry on a course prostitution in his or her own person; but when others are incited, or forced to that course, it may become so, in certain circumstances. Thus, for a person to keep a disorderly house, is an indictable offense, which is punishable fine and impris onment, and the parish officers in England are bound to institute t•e prosecution, the expenses of which are paid out of the poor-rates. It is, however, only the person who keeps the house who is punishable, and no punishment can be imposed ou the fre quenters of the house in any circumstances. The law may be said to be passive so far as the mere fact of prostitution or immoral intercourse is concerned, and gives neither party any remedy against the other, civil or criminal, arising out of that state of the relations between man and woman, Thus, if a man give a woman a bond, providing her an annuity in consideration of her living with him in concubinage, the law will not enforce it, because it is an immoral consideration. So, if a woman take lodgings, or buy dresses, for the purpose of carrying on a course of prostitution, the law will not enforce the payment of rent, or the price of the goods' sold, because the tendency is immoral.
In some countries, as in France, the law takes direct cognizance of the fact of prostitu tion, and deals with prostitutes for various sanitary purposes; but in this country the subject was entirely ignored, except indirectly in the cases above mentioned, and until 1864, when a statute was pas:sec!, :which, to a certain extent, introduced the French pro. cedure. The statute 27 and 28 c. 85, applied only to certain naval and military stations—viz., Portsmouth, Plymouth, Woolwich, Chatham, Sheerness, Aldershot, Col chester, Shorncliff, the Curragh, Cork, and Queenstown, but not to S6otland. In those places a justice of the peace may now, ou information, order a wornam to be taken to a certified hospital for medical examination; and if she is found to have a contagious dis ease, she may be detained in the hospital for medical treatment during not more than three months. A woman who refuses to submit to examination, or leaves the hospital without being duly discharged, is liable to be imprisoned for one or two mouths; and occupiers of houses alluring prostitutes to frequent their houses when having a contagious disease, incur a penalty of £10, or three mouths' imprisonment.