“These are cases which it is inadvisable to drag into the light of day” : Disinterring the Crime of Incest in Early Twentieth-Century England

Abstract

Proposals to criminalize incest in England and Wales, which was formalised in several the Incest Bills from 1899 to 1907, met considerable resistance from the Lord Chancellor who thought the subject too repulsive for public debate. Concerned that the issue would be greatly magnified if such crimes were prosecuted through the criminal courts he believed that the press could not be trusted to report them responsibly. Ultimately, two amendments ensured that the Punishment of Incest Act 1908 was passed, which ruled that the Director of Public Prosecutions must approve any prosecution and that such trials must be held in camera. This article suggests that as cases started to be prosecuted in the courts, it was not only the press but also judges and magistrates who expressed disquiet about such censure. The article also offers some commentary on the difficulties of accessing historical sources in relation to the historiography of incest.