Immorality Act - The 1927 Act

The 1927 Act

The Immorality Act, 1927 (Act No. 5 of 1927) prohibited sexual intercourse outside of marriage between "Europeans" (white people) and "natives" (black people). The penalty was up to five years imprisonment for the man and four years imprisonment for the woman. The act also prohibited "procuring" women for interracial intercourse.

The Immorality Amendment Act, 1950 (Act No. 21 of 1950) amended the 1927 act to forbid unmarried sexual intercourse between "Europeans" and anyone not "European". The prohibition was therefore extended to intercourse between white people and coloured or Asian people. Interracial marriages had been banned in 1949 by the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act.

Read more about this topic:  Immorality Act

Famous quotes containing the word act:

    Fatigue dulls the pain, but awakes enticing thoughts of death. So! that is the way in which you are tempted to overcome your loneliness—by making the ultimate escape from life..—No! It may be that death is to be your ultimate gift to life: it must not be an act of treachery against it.
    Dag Hammarskjöld (1905–1961)