1898: 61 & 62 Victoria c.39: An Act to amend the Vagrancy Act, 1824.

[12th August 1898.]

BE it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

[Persons trading in prostitution.]

1. — (1.) Every male person who —

(a) knowingly lives wholly or in part on the earnings of prostitution; or

(b) in any public place persistently solicits or importunes for immoral purposes,

shall be deemed a rogue and vagabond within the meaning of

[5 Geo. 4. c. 83.]

the Vagrancy Act, 1824, and may be dealt with accordingly.

(2.) If it is made to appear to a court of summary jurisdiction by information on oath that there is reason to suspect that any house or any part of a house is used by a female for purposes of prostitution, and that any male person residing in or frequenting the house is living wholly or in part on the earnings of the prostitute, the court may issue a warrant authorising any constable to enter and search the house and to arrest that male person.

(3.) Where a male person is proved to live with or to be habitually in the company of a prostitute and has no visible means of subsistence, he shall, unless he can satisfy the court to the contrary, be deemed to be knowingly living on the earnings of prostitution.

[Extent, short title, and commencement.]

2. — (1.) This Act shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland.

(2.) This Act may be cited as the Vagrancy Act, 1898, and shall come into operation on the expiration of two months from the passing thereof.

Source: Law Reports Public General Statutes, 1898.

Further reading: Wikipedia.