Offences against the Person Act 1861
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| Long title | An Act to consolidate and amend the Statute Law of England and Ireland relating to Offences against the Person. |
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| Citation | 24 & 25 Vict c 100 |
| Territorial extent | England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 6 August 1861 |
| Commencement | 1 November 1861 |
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Status: Amended
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| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Revised text of statute as amended | |
The Offences against the Person Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict c 100) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It consolidated provisions related to offences against the person (an expression which, in particular, includes offences of violence) from a number of earlier statutes into a single Act. For the most part these provisions were, according to the draftsman of the Act, incorporated with little or no variation in their phraseology. It is one of a group of Acts sometimes referred to as the criminal law consolidation Acts 1861. It was passed with the object of simplifying the law. It is essentially a revised version of an earlier consolidation Act, the Offences against the Person Act 1828 (and the equivalent Irish Act), incorporating subsequent statutes.
Although it has been substantially amended, it continues to be the foundation for prosecuting personal injury, short of murder, in the courts of England and Wales. The Act was also adopted in British possessions, for example New Zealand adopted the Act in 1866.
In England and Wales, and in Northern Ireland, the sexual offences under this Act have all been repealed. For legislation referring to sexual offences, see the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and the Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008. In Northern Ireland the Offences against the Person Act 1861 continues to be the basis of a ban on abortion.
The Act as originally drafted listed specific methods whereby harm might be caused. For example, section 18 originally included an offence of shooting which could be committed with any of the specified intents. Sections 11 to 15 specified various means by which a person might attempt to commit murder.
In some cases, these reflected political issues then of great significance. For example, the Fenians were promoting their political case by leaving barrels of explosives in public places. Hence, sections 28 to 30 and 64 specifically address the problem, whether injury results or not. Similarly, children were throwing stones at passing railway trains, and these provisions remain in force.
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