ABSTRACT
“Prostitution is an evil of which any society which claims to be civilised should seek to rid itself”. The Street Offences Act 1959 represented a tightening of legal controls on prostitutes. The requirement to prove that prostitutes caused annoyance as the basis of bringing charges against them was removed. The more visible presence of prostitutes on the streets occurred in an era when Britain, far from emerging from a world war into conditions of material prosperity, had experienced a period of shortages and austerity. The Sexual Offences Act 1956 consolidated a range of related laws. Embedded in this act the section on living on immoral earnings, evinced a paternalistic concern for the welfare of prostitutes who might have freely decided to share their earnings from prostitution with their cohabitees or husbands.
