# Immorality Act, 1957

This act has since been renamed the Sexual Offences Act, 1957; see that page for more information.
This is the text of the act as originally enacted and does not incorporate any amendments; a series of other versions incorporating amendments are also available on Wikisource.
Act
To consolidate and amend the laws relating to brothels and unlawful carnal intercourse and other acts in relation thereto.
Be it enacted by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate and the House of Assembly of the Union of South Africa, as follows:―
1. In this Act, unless the contest otherwise indicates–
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
(vii)
(viii)
(ix)
2. Any person who keeps a brothel shall be guilty of an offence.
3. The following persons shall for the purposes of section two be deemed to keep a brothel:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
4. In prosecutions under this Act the onus of proving that a house or place is to be kept or used or is being kept or used as a brothel to the knowledge of the owner shall be on the prosecution: Provided that—
(a)
(b)
5. Any contract to let any house or place to be kept or used as a brothel shall be null and void.
6. Any contract of letting and hiring of any house or place which subsequently to the making of such contract becomes a brothel shall as from the date of such event be determined and become null and void: Provided that upon proof by the owner of his ignorance that the house or place was so kept or used he shall be entitled to recover the rent up to the date upon which he became aware that the house or place was being kept or used as a brothel.
7. The owner of any house or place kept or used as a brothel shall be entitled to apply to the magistrate of the district in which such house or place is situated for the summary ejectment of any person who may be keeping or using such house or place as a brothel and such magistrate shall be entitled after enquiry to order the summary ejectment of such person.
8. (1) If it appears to any magistrate on sworn information laid before him by not less than two householders of good repute that any house or place in the vicinity of the dwellings of such householders is being kept or used as a brothel or on similar information upon oath laid before him by any police officer not below the rank of sergeant, or by a welfare officer employed by the Department of Social Welfare, a local authority or a welfare organization registered under the Welfare Organizations Act, 1947 (Act No. 40 of 1947), the magistrate may—
(a)
(b)
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(2) Any person found in or upon such house or place who, when called upon to do so by the police officer conducting the search, refuses to furnish his name and address or furnishes a name or address which is false in any material particular or refuses to disclose the name or identity of the keeper of such house or place or to produce any book, receipt, paper, document or thing which he has in his possession or custody or under his control, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds and in default of payment to imprisonment with compulsory labour for a period not exceeding six months.
(3) The issue of a warrant under paragraph (b) of sub-section (1) shall not in any way affect the power of the magistrate to issue at any time a warrant under paragraph (a) of sub-section (1) or under any other law.
9. (1) Any person who being a parent or guardian of any female—
(a)
(b)
shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) The term “guardian” in this section includes any person who has in law or in fact the custody or control of the female.
10. Any person who—
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
shall be guilty of an offence.
11. Any person who conspires with any other person to induce any female by any false pretence or other fraudulent means to allow any male to have unlawful carnal intercourse with her, shall be guilty of an offence.
12. Any person who takes or detains any female against her will—
(a)
(b)
shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) Where a female is in or upon any house or place for the purpose that she may be unlawfully carnally known by any male, whether a particular male or not, or is in any brothel, she shall for the purposes of this section be deemed to have been taken thereto or to be detained therein or thereon against her will—
(a)
(b)
(3) Any person shall be deemed to detain a female in or upon any house or place or in a brothel if, with intent to compel or induce her to remain in or upon such house or place or in such brothel, such person withholds from her any wearing apparel or other property to the possession of which she is entitled or which has been lent or supplied to her by such person or for ​the purposes of prostitution; and any such female shall be justified in taking away such wearing apparel as is necessary to enable her to leave such house or place or brothel.
13. (1) Any person who takes or detains or causes to be taken or detained any unmarried male or female under the age of twenty-one years out of the custody and against the will of his or her father or mother or guardian, with intent that such person or any other person, whether a particular person or not, may have unlawful carnal intercourse with such unmarried male or female, shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) The term “guardian” in this section includes any person who has in law or in fact the custody or control of the unmarried male or female.
14. (1) Any male person who—
(a)
(b)
(c)
shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) It shall be a sufficient defence to any charge under this section if it shall be made to appear to the court—
(a)
(b)
(c)
15. Any person who—
(a)
(b)
(c)
shall if it be proved that such person knew that such female was an idiot or imbecile, be guilty of an offence.
16. (1) (a) Any white female person who—
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(b) any coloured female person who—
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) (a) Any white male person who—
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(b) any coloured male person who—
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
shall be guilty of an offence.
(3) It shall be a sufficient defence to any charge under this section if it is proved to the satisfaction of the court that the person charged at the time of the commission of the offence had reasonable cause to believe that the person with whom he or she committed the offence was a white person if the person charged is a white person, or a coloured person if the person charged is a coloured person.
17. Any person who being the owner or occupier of any house or place or having or acting or assisting in the management or control thereof knowingly permits the use of such house or place for the purpose of any offence against any provision of this Act, shall be guilty of an offence.
18. Any person who applies, administers to or causes to be taken by any female any drug, intoxicating liquor, matter or thing with intent to stupefy or overpower her so as thereby to enable him to have unlawful carnal intercourse with her, shall be guilty of an offence.
19. Any person who—
(a)
(b)
shall be guilty of an offence.
20. (1) Any person who—
(a)
(b)
(c)
shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) If it is made to appear to a magistrate by information on oath that there is reason to suspect that any house is used by a female for purposes of prostitution and that any person residing in or frequenting the house is living wholly or in part on the earnings of the prostitute, the magistrate may issue a warrant authorizing any police officer not below the rank of sergeant to enter and search the house and to arrest that person.
21. (1) Whenever in any prosecution under this Act the question is in issue whether any carnal intercourse between a male and a female was unlawful, such male and female shall be deemed to have been unmarried at the time of such intercourse unless the accused proves the contrary.
(2) Any person who seems in appearance obviously to be a white person or a coloured person, as the case may be, shall for the purpose of this Act be deemed to be such unless the contrary is proved.
(3) Whenever in any prosecution under this Act a person is proved to reside in a brothel or to live with or to be habitually in the company of a prostitute and has no visible means of subsistence, such person shall, unless he or she satisfies the court to the contrary, be deemed to he knowingly living wholly or in part on the earnings of prostitution.
22. Any person who is convicted of an offence under the provisions of this Act for which no special penalty is prescribed, shall be liable—
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
23. The laws specified in the Schedule are hereby repealed to the extent set out in the fourth column of that Schedule.
24. The Governor-General may by proclamation in the Gazette and in the Official Gazette of the territory of South-West Africa, declare this Act to be in force in the said territory.
25. This Act shall be called the Immorality Act, 1957.
Schedule.
(Section 23.)
| Province or Union. | No. and Year of Law. | Short Title or Subject of Law. | Extent of Repeal. |
| Cape. | Act No. 25 of 1893. | The Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1893. | So much as is unrepealed. |
| 〃 | Act No. 36 of 1902. | The Betting Houses, Gaming Houses and Brothels Suppression Act, 1902. | Sections 22 to 36 inclusive. |
| Transvaal. | Ordinance No. 46 of 1903. | The Immorality Ordinance, 1903. | So much as is unrepealed. |
| Orange Free State. | Ordinance No. 11 of 1903. | The Suppression of Brothels and Immorality Ordinance, 1903. | So much as is unrepealed. |
| 〃 | Act No. 19 of 1908. | The Suppression of Brothels and Immorality Amendment Act, 1908. | The whole. |
| Natal. | Act No. 31 of 1903. | The Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1903. | The whole. |
| Union. | Act No. 3 of 1916. | The Girls’ and Mentally Defective Women Protection Act, 1916. | The whole. |
| 〃 | Act No. 5 of 1927. | The Immorality Act, 1927. | The whole. |
| 〃 | Act No. 21 of 1950. | The Immorality Amendment Act, 1950. | The whole. |
| 〃 | Act No. 62 of 1955. | The General Law Amendment Act, 1955. | Section 15. |
This work is in the public domain because it was created and first published in South Africa and it is an official text of a legislative, administrative or legal nature, or an official translation of such a text.
According to the Copyright Act, 1978, § 12 (8) (a), "No copyright shall subsist in official texts of a legislative, administrative or legal nature, or in official translations of such texts."
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse