 |
Four
Seasons Law & The W.N.B.R's. |  |
| WORLD NAKED BIKE RIDE AND THE LAW. |
| There is no offence of
"Public Nudity" any more than there is an offence of "Indecent Exposure"
despite how many times the press use that term and sometimes even the police, I
say again; there is no such offence. If there were how would the World Naked
Bike Ride (WNBR) get away with it? |
| On paper it is perfectly legal to
"walk around the street naked", but very few do as society would deem it
strange. |
| The Sexual Offences Act 2003 'tidied up' a lot of law relevant
to this and section 66 is the part dealing with "exposing your genitals" in a
public place. It is designed to catch the flasher, not a Naturist - and those
responsible for wording this law are on record as saying this. S66 of the SOA
requires that you exposed your genitals with the INTENTION of causing someone
alarm or distress. It is not sufficient that someone claims to have been
alarmed or distressed, the prosecution has to prove that was your
intention. |
| Section 66 Sexual Offences Act A person commits an offence
if- (a) He intentionally exposes his genitals, and (b) he intends that someone
will see them and be caused alarm or distress |
| There are no other laws
that mention simple nudity in public. |
| There are, however, laws that the
police like to use against things they are not comfortable with and nudity
seems to sometimes be one of those things. Their favorite is section 5 of the
Public Order Act 1986. This law was designed to control riots, not nudity, but
is sadly very vague, so open to abuse. |
| The Public Order Act, 1986 is not
actually about order, but disorder and violent conduct. In English Law, there
are two types of exposure and neither of them has any impact on nudity in a
public place in general. The first is in Statute Law that is made by Parliament
and the second is Common Law which is a term which describes that which has
been accepted over the centuries as being the law but which is not a Statute
Law. |
| The basis of the statutory offence is that a male exposes his
person with the intent to insult a female. It is a sexual offence and there
must be a sexual motive to it. For a prosecution to succeed it would be
expected that the penis in question should be erect. It cannot be committed by
a female although the victim must be of that sex and it must be a deliberate
act. The female must also be offended by the behavior! |
| The Common Law
offence of indecent exposure is different. This is a common belief of an
indecency offence being committed in a public place. It can be committed by
either sex and no intent to commit an offence is involved. |
| The only
other law that comes close in England is the common law of "Outraging Public
Decency", but it has been established that "Outrage" is a strong word and
someone's surprise upon encountering your simple nudity is not sufficient cause
to qualify as an offence under this law. Remember a Common Law is a belief that
there is a law and it is not a Statute Law. |
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