At that age aristocratic boys were often taken away from school because puberty had begun. 59) says "In the eighteenth century, would have been around fifteen years of age. On the subject of the age of 14 for boys, Randolph Trumbach in Sex and the Gender Revolution (Vol. For though in other felonies *malitia supplet aetatem*, as has in some cases been shewn yet, as to this particular species of felony, the law supposes an imbecillity of body as well as mind." 15, section 3) summarizes the position: "A male infant, under the age of fourteen years, is presumed by law incapable to commit a rape, and therefore it seems cannot be found guilty of it. Regarding boys, Blackstone in his Commentaries on the Laws of England (IV, chap. One could enter into a Common Law marriage at the age of 12. The legal history, though very complicated, can be summarized: the age of consent for girls was 12 in the 13th century, but was lowered to 10 in 1576, and remained there until it was raised to 12 in 1861, then to 13 in 1875, and then to 16 in 1885. The age of consent has steadily crept upward, while the age of puberty has crept downward, which demonstrates that the concept is a legal construct having no biological basis. whether a person's age expressed in years relates to the period before or the period after a certain birthday.) (I think that in general, throughout the century there was some ambiguity when mentioning the age of persons, i.e. But I don't think this ambiguity arose in cases involving children "10 years old", because all or virtually all such cases brought to the attention of the court involved force or violence in any event, and would have been deemed rape regardless of age. There is some ambiguity in some trials as to whether "14 years old" means having attained one's 14th birthday, or just being in one's 14th year after passing one's 13th birthday. There are probably exceptions to these rules. Certainly within the field of homosexual relations, today the "age of consent" is used to determine whether or not the older partner can be prosecuted, whereas in the past it was used solely to determine whether or not the younger partner could be prosecuted. Modern historians and sex-law reformers usually anachronistically use the concept in the context of the legal liability of the older person rather than the legal liability of the younger person whose age is being considered. The "age of consent" essentially constitutes the age of legal liability. The law against buggery already protected them against male sexual molestation. the rape of boys by women, which is not deemed to be conceivable. I don't think there are any cases involving heterosexual molestation, i.e. The age of consent for girls was designed to protect girls from sexual molestation or exploitation, but the age of consent for boys was designed to protect boys from sexual prosecution, not to protect boys from sexual molestation. That is, it is not possible to have an "age of consent" for homosexual relations. Also, children (whether boys or girls) below the age of 14 were not supposed to be prosecuted for murder (a capital felony), but there were some exceptions.įor an adult, sodomy was illegal in all cases, regardless of the age of the partner and regardless of the consent of the partner. Specifically, (1) it was not lawful for boys below the age of 14 to get married and (2) boys below the age of 14 could not be prosecuted for sodomy, or, I think, for rape. The age of consent for girls with regard to marriage was 12 that is, a girl under the age of 12 could not lawfully consent to marriage. The age of consent for girls with regard to sexual intercourse was 10 that is, sex with a girl below the age of 10 was automatically classified as rape, because girls below the age of 10 were deemed to be legally incapable of consent. These "ages of consent" were fairly common across Europe, and in the United States. My comments below relate to English law in the 18th century, though these standards were true for most of the 19th century as well. The Age of Consent in 18th-century England
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