ABSTRACT
Professional prostitution to-day exists in many forms, the precise form or forms flourishing in different countries, and in different parts of the same country, varying considerably. For instance, there are no brothel prostitutes in England, as there are in so many Continental and foreign countries. On the other hand, street-walkers, which are so common in English cities, are rarely seen in many foreign countries. Then again, in some States prostitutes are registered, in others there is no system of regulation whatever. Usually, brothels and registration go together, though there are registered prostitutes who are not inmates of brothels or in any way connected with them. It would appear to be customary in all regulationist countries (i.e. countries where there is a system of registration and medical inspection) to regard prostitution as an evil which must be endured; and in all non-regulationist or abolitionist countries (i.e. countries where there is no registration or medical inspection) to ignore the question of prostitution except where and so far as it can be linked with some other offence and penalised or punished vicariously. The modern tendency is undoubtedly against regulation, as is instanced by the steady decline in the number of countries adopting registration.
