Buggery Act 1533

The Buggery Act 1533, formally An Acte for the punishment of the vice of Buggerie (25 Hen. 8. c. 6), was an act of the Parliament of England that was passed during the reign of Henry VIII. The act was the country's first statutory sodomy law, such offences having previously been dealt with by the ecclesiastical courts. The term buggery, not defined in the text of the legislation, was later interpreted by the courts to include only anal penetration and bestiality, regardless of the sex of the participants, but not oral penetration. The act remained in force until it was repealed and replaced by the Offences Against the Person Act 1828 (9 Geo. 4. c. 31). Buggery remained a capital offence until 1861, though the last executions were in 1835. The act was piloted through Parliament by Henry VIII's minister Thomas Cromwell (though it is unrecorded who actually wrote the bill) and punished "the detestable and abominable Vice of Buggery committed with Mankind or Beast".