03309cam a22003373u 4500 76301 UtSlPG 20260610134751.0 m cr n 260607r20251871utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d UtSlPG en iso639-1 HQ KD Butler, Josephine Elizabeth Grey, 1828-1906 The constitution violated Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg, 2025 1 online resource : multiple file formats text txt rdacontent computer c rdamedia online resource cr rdacarrier Advocates the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts of 1866, 1868 and 1869. Release date is 2025-06-15 Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) "The Constitution Violated" by Josephine Elizabeth Grey Butler is a political essay written in the late 19th century. It denounces the British Contagious Diseases Acts as a fundamental breach of constitutional liberties—especially Magna Carta, habeas corpus, and trial by jury—and warns that state regulation of prostitution endangers civil freedom and public morality. Addressed to working men and women, it portrays the Acts as an assault on national rights that especially imperils poor and unprotected women. The opening of the essay declares its aim to rouse the country by proving the Acts unconstitutional, setting aside medical arguments and focusing on core constitutional principles. It centers on Magna Carta’s protections—particularly the clauses safeguarding liberty, property, and trial by jury—arguing that forced bodily examinations amount to unlawful “destruction,” and it illustrates England’s historic jealousy of such violations. The author clarifies that the Acts apply to civilians (not the army or navy) while placing civil districts under the Admiralty and War Office; she outlines how a police superintendent’s oath and a magistrate’s order can subject a woman to repeated examinations, detention, hospital confinement, and effective outlawry without a jury, with a single policeman’s testimony often sufficing. She argues this is no “minor case,” since a woman’s honor, liberty, and livelihood are at stake, and she condemns coercive “voluntary submissions” and summary procedures that invert the Habeas Corpus spirit. Drawing on authorities like Coke, Blackstone, and Creasy—and paralleling a 1736 Lords debate on anti-smuggling powers—she warns against informers, punishment of mere “intent,” and executive overreach. The section closes by invoking Chatham’s moral appeal, contrasting past constitutional vigilance with recent parliamentary silence as the Acts elevate vice into a regulated system. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Originally published: Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1871 Constitutional law -- Great Britain Prostitutes -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Great Britain https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000263927 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76301 117026 117026