PROSTITUTION. The common lewdness of a woman for gain. The act of permitting a common and indiscriminate sexual inter course for gain. Com. v. Cook, 12 Mete. (Mass.) 97.
The act or practice of prostituting or of fering the body to an indiscriminate inter course with men ; common lewdness of a woman for gain ; the act of permitting a common and indiscriminate sexual inter course for hire. State v. Gibson, 108 Mo. 575, 18 S. W. 1109. See State v. Stoyell, 54 Me. 24, 89 Am. Dec. 716; Haygood v. State, 98 Ala. 61, 13 South. 325.
The act of permitting illicit intercourse for hire, an indiscriminate intercourse or what is deemed public prostitution. U. S. v. Bitty, 208 U. S. 393, 28 Sup. Ct. 396, 52 L. Ed. 543.
By the word in its most general sense is understood the act of setting one's self to sale, or of devoting to infamous purposes what is in one's power : as, the prostitution of talents or abilities ; the prostitution of the press, etc. Carpenter v. People, 8 Barb. (N. Y.) 610.
In all well-regulated communities this has been considered a heinous offence, for which the woman may be punished; and the keep er of a house of prostitution may be indicted for keeping a common nuisance.
A landlord cannot recover for the use and occupation of a house let for the pur pose of prostitution ; 1 B. & P. 340, n. It is not a crime to let rooms to prostitutes for quiet and decent occupation, nor to permit a house to be visited by disreputable people, if they visit it for innocent and proper pur poses; State v. Smith, 15 R. I. 24, 22 Atl. 1119.
The object of the provisions of the im migration acts of 1907 and 1910, providing for the deportation of prostitutes, was to prevent the introduction and keeping in this country of women of the prohibited class ; and even if a woman married to a citizen might be permitted to enter if she does not belong to that class, yet if she is found vio lating the statute by being in a house of prostitution, she becomes subject to deporta tion, notwithstanding her marriage to a citi zen ; Low Wah Suey v. Backus. 225 U. S. 460, 32 Sup. Ct. 734, 56 L. Ed. 1165.
June 25, 1910, congress passed the white slave traffic act forbidding the transporta tion of women for the purpose of prostitu tion. It was held constitutional; Paulsen v. U. S., 199 Fed. 423, 118 C. C. A. 97. See