Look up buggery in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The English term buggery is very close in meaning to the term sodomy, and is often used interchangeably in law and popular speech. It is also a specific criminal offence under the English common law. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 151 languages. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... François Elluin, Sodomites provoking the wrath of God, from Le pot pourri de Loth (1781). ... for other uses please see Crime (disambiguation) A crime is an act that violates a political or moral law. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ...

In law

Under most common law legal systems, the term buggery is a criminal offence with a specific legal meaning. In English law, "buggery" was first used in the Buggery Act 1533, while Section 61 of the Offences Against The Person Act 1861, entitled "Sodomy and Bestiality", defined punishments for "the abominable Crime of Buggery, committed either with Mankind or with any Animal". Neither Act defined what constituted buggery. Over the years the courts have defined buggery as including either: World distribution of major legal traditions The three major legal systems of the world today consist of civil law, common law and religious law. ... English law is a formal term of art that describes the law for the time being in force in England and Wales. ... // The Buggery Act of 1534 (25 Hen. ... The Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (OAP, 24 & 25 Victoria, Cap. ...

1. anal intercourse by a man with a man or woman,^[1] or
2. vaginal intercourse by either a man or a woman with an animal,^[2]

but not any other form of "unnatural intercourse".^[3][4] Roman men having anal sex. ... Vaginal sex or vaginal intercourse is human sexual behavior involving the vagina, especially, but not limited to, the insertion of the erect penis into the vagina. ... Look up Bestiality in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

At common law consent was not a defence;^[5] nor was the fact that the parties were married.^[6] As with the crime of rape, buggery required that penetration must have occurred, but ejaculation is not necessary.^[7] Matrimony redirects here. ... Ejaculation is the ejecting of semen from the penis, and is usually accompanied by orgasm. ...

Most common law countries have now modified the law to permit anal sex between consenting adults.^[8]

Etymology

The word bugger and buggery are still commonly used in modern English as a profanity, and "buggery" is also synonymous with anal sex. Bugger is an expletive used in vernacular British English, South African English, Australian English, New Zealand English and Sri Lankan English. ... In cartoons, profanity is often depicted by substituting symbols for words, as a form of non-specific censorship. ...

The word "bugger" was derived, via the French "bougre", from "Bulgar", that is, "Bulgarian", meaning the medieval Bulgarian heretical sect of the Bogomils, which spread into Western Europe and was claimed by the established church to be devoted to the practice of sodomy,^[9]. "Buggery" first appears in English in 1330, though "bugger" in a sexual sense is not recorded until 1555.^[10] Not to be confused with Bulgarians. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ... This article is about religious groups. ... Bogomils was the name of an ancient Gnostic religious community which is thought to have originated in Bulgaria. ...

References

Sources

• Smith & Hogan, Criminal Law (10th ed), ISBN 0 406 94801 1
• Philip White, Why I like to do it with men... (11th ed), ISBN 2 906 45687 2
• Theodore Griffiths, My thirst for the cock, and how I deal with it ISBN 2 666 78901 2