An Act to consolidate and amend the Statute Law of England and Ireland relating to Offences against the Person.
Citation
24 & 25 Vict. c. 100
Territorial extent
England and Wales
Ireland
Dates
Royal assent
6 August 1861
Commencement
1 November 1861[2]
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.
The Offences against the Person Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 100) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It consolidated provisions related to offences against the person (an expression, which, in particular, includes offences of violence) from a number of earlier statutes into a single Act. For the most part these provisions were, according to the draftsman of the Act,[3] incorporated with little or no variation in their phraseology. It is one of a group of Acts sometimes referred to as the Criminal Law Consolidation Acts 1861. It was passed with the object of simplifying the law. It is essentially a revised version of an earlier consolidation act, the Offences Against the Person Act 1828 (and the equivalent Irish Act), incorporating subsequent statutes.[4]
Although it has been substantially amended, it continues to be the foundation for prosecuting personal injury, short of murder, in the courts of England and Wales. The act was also adopted in British possessions. For example, New Zealand adopted the act in 1866.
In England and Wales and in Northern Ireland, the sexual offences under the act have all been repealed. For legislation referring to sexual offences, see the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and the Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008. In Northern Ireland, the 1861 Act was the basis for a ban on abortion until 2019 when it was amended by the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019.
^This short title was conferred by the Short Titles Act 1896, section 1 and the first schedule. It is written as it appears in the text of that Act published in the Public General Acts 1896, HMSO, notwithstanding that the "a" in "against" is sometimes capitalised in other sources.
^The Offences against the Person Act 1861, section 79
^Greaves. The Criminal Law Consolidation and Amendment Acts 1861 pp. 3–4
^Davis, James Edward. The Criminal Law Consolidation Statutes of the 24 & 25 of Victoria, Chapters 94 to 100. Butterworths. 1861. Pages vi and vii. Internet Archive.
and 23 Related for: Offences Against the Person Act 1861 information
TheOffencesagainstthePersonAct1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 100) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It consolidated...
countries as a legacy of theOffencesagainstthePersonAct1861. Although most sexual offences will also be offencesagainsttheperson, for various reasons...
sometimes called theOffencesagainstthePersonAct 1828, and under the corresponding Irish Act (10 Geo. 4. c. 34), and re-enacted those offences in different...
describe the severest forms of battery. It refers to two offences that are created by sections 18 and 20 of theOffencesagainstthePersonAct1861. The distinction...
notable for the circumstances of its passage in Parliament. Under theOffencesagainstthePersonAct1861, the age of consent was 12 (reflecting the common...
Ireland. TheOffencesagainstthePersonAct1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 100) creates theoffences of: Common assault and battery: a summary offence, under section...
criminal offences is a partial categorization of English criminal law offences. Offences under the Explosive Substances Act 1883 Offences under the Computer...
The procurement of an abortion remains a criminal offence in Great Britain under theOffencesAgainstthePersonAct1861, although the Abortion Act provides...
suicide. Sections 58 and 59 of theOffencesAgainstthePersonAct1861 were repealed, and effectively superseded by theoffence defined in section 22 of intentionally...
of Ireland: A criminal offence under section 57 of theOffencesAgainstthePersonAct1861, up to seven years' imprisonment. The Director of Public Prosecutions...
replace, in England and Wales, the offence of child stealing under section 56 of theOffencesagainstthePersonAct1861. Section 1(1) provides that, subject...
makes theoffence very difficult to prove and it is more common for a lesser charge to be preferred under theOffencesagainstthePersonAct1861. However...
third person. Theoffence is created by section 57 of theOffencesagainstthePersonAct1861: Whosoever, being married, shall marry any other person during...
grievous bodily harm" contrary to section 23 of the OffencesAgainstthePersonAct1861 as the 'unlawful act' which was a significant cause of Bosque's death...
Act 1834, and the whole section was repealed and replaced by section 3 of theOffencesagainstthePersonAct1861. The Anatomy Act provided for the needs...
38 of the OffencesagainstthePersonAct1861 which provides: Whosoever ... shall assault any person with intent to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension...
Global Information