Crimes (Girls' Protection) Act 1910 (NSW)

Act No. 2, 1910.

An Act to extend to girls of and above the ages

of fourteen and sixteen years respectively,

and under the ages of sixteen and seventeen years respectively, the protection given to girls under the ages of fourteen and sixteen years respectively by certain provisions of the criminal law relating to offences against the person ; to bring step-fathers within certain of those provisions ; to enable certain

of those offences to be dealt with in a sum­

mary way ; to exclude girls under the age

of eighteen from brothels ; and to amend the

Crimes Act, 1900. [25th July, 1910.]

Assembly of New South Wales in Parliament assembled, and by the	EE it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative
authority of the same, as follows:—
1. This Act shall be construed with the Crimes Act, 1900, hereinafter referred to as the Principal Act, and mav be cited as the '•Crimes (Girls' Protection) Act, 1910 ."
2. Sections sixty-lour, sixty-nine, seventy, seventy-one, seventy- two, seventy-seven, and seventy-eight of the Principal Act are hereby amended by the substitution of the word " sixteen " for the word "four teen" wherever it occurs in those sections, and sections seventy- three and seventy-four of that Act are hereby amended by the substitution of the word "seventeen" for the word "s ix teen" wherever it occurs in those sections : Provided that it is a sufficient defence to any charge which renders a person liable to be found guilty of an
offence described in sections seventy-one, seventy-two, seventy-seven,
or seventy-eight of the Principal Act, as amended by this Act, in respect of offences under any of the said sections where the girl in question was over the age of fourteen years, if it shall be made to appear to the court or jury before whom the charge is brought that the girl was at the time of the alleged offence a common prostitute, or an

an associate of common prostitutes, or that the person so charged had reasonable cause to believe that she was of or above the age of sixteen years ; and provided also that no prosecution may be commenced for any such offence more than six months after the commission of the

offence.

3 . Sections seventy-three, seventy-four, seventy-five, and

seventy-six of the Principal Act are hereby amended by adding after

the word "father ," wherever it occurs in those sections, the words " o r step-father," and by adding after the word " daughter," wherever
it occurs in those sections, the words "or step-daughter."

4 . Where a person of the age of sixteen years and under the age of eighteen years is found guilty of an offence under sections seventy-one, seventy-two, or seventy-seven of the Principal Act, and the jury is satisfied that the girl upon whom the offence was committed was at the time of the commission of the offence of or above the age of fourteen years, and under the age of sixteen years, he may be dealt with in the same manner as a person under the age

of sixteen years convicted of an indictable offence may be dealt with
under the provisions of section four hundred and twenty-nine of the Principal Act, or under the provisions of sections thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, and thirty-three of the Neglected Children and Juvenile

Offenders Act, 1 9 0 5 . '

5. Whoever employs in, or under any circumstances whatever suffers to resort to or be in or upon, any premises used as a brothel or house of ill fame, any girl under the age of eighteen years shall be liable to penal servitude1 for five years.

Act