The History of Prostitution: Its Extent, Causes, and Effects throughout the World

by William W. Sanger

“5. The common prostitutes in the brothels are strictly prohibited from enticing or inviting passengers in the streets, with looks or signs from the houses or windows, and the keepers are on no account to permit the same. Diligent regard to this is to be had by the police, and those who act contrary will be punished, the first time with three days, and, on a repetition of the offense, with a week’s solitary confinement, one half of the time on bread and water. The keeper who is shown to have been party to the same will suffer double punishment.

“6. In these houses the keepers shall not supply visitors with wine, brandy, liquor, punch, or other strong drinks, or with food, but only with tea, coffee, chocolate, beer, or similar beverages; further, it is not permitted for the visitors to bring in drink or food. For every case of contravention the keeper shall pay five thalers, or a week’s detention; on repetition, he shall be punished more severely; if this will not suffice, the permit shall be withdrawn from the house. No brothel-keeper shall allow any guest to remain after twelve o’clock at night, nor allow any one to enter after that hour. Whoso acts contrary shall, for the first offense, pay ten thalers; on repetition, the fine is doubled; for the third time, the keeper shall lose his permit.

“7. Should thefts, assaults, or other offenses take place in such houses, the keeper is in all cases liable to the injured party if he can not get his redress elsewhere. Further, the said keeper is suspected of complicity in the offense so long as the contrary is not proved, and if it appear that he did not use all possible means for the prevention of such offense, he shall be punished by fine or in person.

“8. In case any innocent female shall, by fraud or violence, be brought into any brothel, the keeper and those who are accomplices in such infamous offense shall undergo public exhibition, and four to ten years’ House of Correction, with welcome and farewell. Besides this, the permit will be withdrawn. It shall be no excuse for him to allege that he neither knew nor assisted the said seduction, inasmuch as he had no right to receive any female into his house without first giving notice thereof to the Police Directory, and receiving from them, after inquiry into the circumstances, permission to do so.

“9. In like manner, a brothel-keeper may not, under penalty of twelve months’ imprisonment, give any one (whatever his rank may be) facility to carry on criminal intercourse with any woman who has been brought into his house; and it is absolutely forbidden for any person to bring a female to such house, and there to have any private communication with her, which shall be only with the regular women of the place, inasmuch as by section 2 no keeper is permitted to receive any woman as servant-maid, or under any pretense whatever, among his inmates, without previous notice to the police, and their assent to the same.

“10. In order to combat the frequent infection of common prostitutes, and, if possible, prevent them from severe attacks of venereal disease, or its farther extension, and at the same time not only to restrain the rapid progress of this highly pernicious malady, but, so far as possible, entirely to root it out, the brothel-keepers and the women kept by them are bound to give their most observant attention thereto, both for their own advantage, and also for the diminution of their own misfortunes and severe punishment. To this end, the brothel-keepers are not to oppose the appointed surgeons in each quarter, so often as the same make their visits to the women at their houses; and every woman shall be subject to these visits. For the information of every brothel-keeper, and of the prostitutes kept by him, a copy of printed directions, prepared by competent authority, shall be given to the brothel-keeper, whereby the signs of actual infection and of the commencement of venereal disease may be known, and they shall be clearly instructed by the duly appointed surgeon how to form an opinion upon their own state of health, and be able to explain the same on his visits, so that thereby the detection of venereal disease at any time may be facilitated. Furthermore, upon perceiving the symptoms whereby venereal disease is known in a man, they should abstain from carnal intercourse with him.

“11. Should a woman suspect that she is infected, she must permit no one to have connection with her, but shall mention the same as well to her keeper as to the surgeon of the district, upon which steps shall forthwith be taken for her cure. If she neglect this she shall be punished with detention, three months for the first time, on repetition of the offense with six months in the House of Correction, with welcome and farewell. If the said woman, through concealment of her venereal malady, has given occasion to a wider spread thereof, she shall the first time be liable to twelve months in the House of Correction, with welcome and farewell. In case the brothel-keeper shall know of the diseased condition of such woman, and shall not hinder her from the exercise of her trade, or shall keep her therein, he shall be liable to the same punishment, and, moreover, shall be liable to the costs and charges of cure and attendance of the man so infected by such woman, if he requires it, or if he can not pay such expenses. For this reimbursement a brothel-keeper shall be held liable even if he did not know the diseased condition of a woman kept in his house, inasmuch as such obligation shall, for the public weal, be taken to be a risk and burden incident to the trade permitted to be carried on by him.

“12. On the other hand, a prostitute can prosecute any one for having infected her by means of connection, and such person shall, upon the complaint and showing of her and the brothel-keeper, bear the expense of cure and maintenance for so a long time as, pursuant to the orders of the authorities of the Charité, the woman may have to remain in the Charité; and further, shall be liable to a fine of fifty thalers, or three months’ imprisonment in the House of Correction.

“13. If any woman, before declaring her venereal disease, shall have concealed it so long that, by opinion of competent persons, she must have known the same for a considerable length of time, she shall, whether she shall or shall not have infected other persons, be liable to the same punishment as if she had infected others.

“14. Whereas, it has been the practice for the women to conceal their venereal diseases; and whereas, they have intrusted themselves to incompetent persons for cure; and whereas, the brothel-keepers are bound to refund to the Charité the expenses of the cure and attendance, which sometimes fall ruinously heavy upon them: it is hereby directed, for the removal of this difficulty, that a healing fund (heilings casse) shall be established, by means whereof the keepers and their women, on the occurrence of disease, may be relieved of the heavy expenses to which they are put, and may be assured against the destruction of their bodies and health, which ensue from the growth of this terrible disease. To this fund every brothel-keeper shall contribute a monthly sum of six groschen (twelve cents) for each woman that he keeps, and shall give in a statement of the name and place of birth of such woman; for which, at the commencement of the following month, he shall receive an acknowledgment, and he shall recover such sum from every woman on whose account he shall have paid the same. Nevertheless, any brothel-keeper who shall have allowed more than one of these monthly payments to run into arrear with the women, shall not, on that account, be able to prevent her leaving him, if, as before ordered, she desires to change her way of life. If a woman goes from one brothel to another without the six groschen having been paid for her, the brothel-keeper to whom she goes must pay this amount in due time for her. This shall happen notwithstanding that she is bound to give notice of her removal to the police commissary of the quarter. The monthly payment of this tax is to be made to the duly appointed medical officer of the quarter, who shall pay over the whole amount of the same to the collector of the healing fund, who shall give him for the same a receipt under his own hand; whereupon the comptroller shall compare the list of the same with the list of the brothel-keepers and women in the several districts, and shall compel defaulters to pay the outstanding tax.