No book in recent years has detailed for the public a history of sex and the courts. From a starting point in the 19th Century, SEX, CRIMES AND MISDEMEANOURS examines the variety of cases concerning sex, placing various laws in the social context of the period - i.e. what has at differing times been considered criminal (no Incest Act existed before 1908). From bestiality, prostitution, homosexuality and child sex abuse to allegations of satanism in ritual child abuse, this book will survey the great cases which have changed the law or helped change social perceptions as well as some minor, but astonishing ones.