Buggery Act 1533

The Buggery Act of 1533, formally An Acte for the punysshement of the vice of Buggerie (25 Hen. 8 c. 6), made certain homosexual activity punishable by death in England.

The Act was passed during the reign of Henry VIII, as part of a process of bringing activities that had previously been covered by church law under the normal criminal law. It was also useful in assisting the process of the dissolution of the monasteries and the seizing of their land and property to benefit the crown.

It defined "buggery" as as "an unnatural sexual act against the will of God and man" but this was later clarified as referring to anal intercourse, otherwise referred to as sodomy.

The Act was extended to Wales by the Laws in Wales Act 1542.

The Act was repealed in 1553 on the accession of Queen Mary, a Roman Catholic. However, it was re-enacted by Queen Elizabeth I in 1563.