et consentientes pari poena plicantur". Also, the English rule now is that “it is not necessary to prove the offence to have been committed against the consent of the person upon whom it was perpetrated"; and that "both agent and patient (if consenting) are equally guilty”369. Our Section 220 punishes acts of lewdness against nature, that is to say those acts consisting in the unnatural carnal connection of two persons of the same sex or of different sexes, but committed without violence actual or constructive, or in the connection of a human being with an animal. “La disposizione dell’articolo 201 (now 220) abbraccia ogni congiungimento carnale contro le natura, senza distinzione fra congiungimento di un uomo con un altro maschio o femmina, chiamato nell'antica giurisprudenza “sodomia”, e congiungimento di un uomo dell'uno e dell'altro sesso con una bestia, in quella stessa giurisprudenza chiamato “bestialità”, e non presentando esse alcuna ambiguità non permette una interpretazione tendente a darle un significato diverso da quello che naturalmente portano le sue parole"370. Section 221 lays down that the crime shall be deemed to be complete by the commencement of the connection and it shall not be necessary to prove further acts. This rule applies to all crimes under the Title of Crimes Affecting the Good Order of Families to constitute which there must be a carnal connection.
9. Offences against Decency or Morals Committed in Public
Section 223 punishes any offence against decency or morals by any act committed in a public place or in a place exposed to the public, in cases where the fact does not constitute a greater offence under Sections 217 to 222 or some other provision of the law. The object of the protection of the law under this section is public decency or morality. Publicity is therefore the essential basis of this offence. From this it follows that the
369
Archbold, Op. cit., p. 1071
370
Criminal Court, Three Judges, 16/5/1892, R vs C. Sciberras; and 18/11/1907, R vs Edw. Laughlin,
Cremona, op. cit., p. 162
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