When I see mentions of laws against “sodomy” in 18th & 19th century England, what acts are being referred to?

by jkillsl

Was it only anal sexual intercourse between men that was criminalized? (Since I’ve heard that sodomy has had different definitions at different times). Was male-male oral sex also against the law?

CChippy

No, it doesn’t seem to have been restricted to anal sex in the period you are talking about. It referred to any male on male sex (carnal knowledge) and to any sex with an animal by either male or female. Interestingly it did not include female on female sex. The reason it spread so widely as a criminal offence is considered to be due to it’s inclusion in Blackstone’s “Commentaries on the Laws of England", written in about 1769 which served as an important legal text and guide to the development of law throughout the British Empire and it’s colonies, including the newly separating American colonies. A contemporary of Blackstone, Edward Coke defined the offence as follows. “Buggery is a detestable, and abominable sin, amongst Christians not to be named. ... [It is] committed by carnal knowledge against the ordinance of the Creator and order of nature, by mankind with mankind, or with brute beast, or by womankind with brute beast”.

E. Coke, The Institutes of the Laws of England (3rd part), cap. X Of Buggery, or Sodomy, 1797, 58.

Note that the terms "buggery" and "sodomy" are used interchangeably.