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Section 377 enacted in the British Indian Penal Code

When
1860
Where
Calcutta, India (named-locality qualifier; no passage states the physical site of the legislative act); British India
Episodes
2

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, criminalizing 'unnatural offences', was enacted in 1860. Drafted by the First Law Commission chaired by Thomas Babington Macaulay, the code was revised by Barnes Peacock and passed into law on 6 October 1860. Macaulay died in 1859, before the code came into force in 1862.

Episodes

  1. 1860 · British IndiaCodification of Unnatural Offences

    Section 377 codified 'carnal intercourse against the order of nature' in 1860, serving as a model for other colonies.

  2. 6 October 1860 · Calcutta, India (named-locality qualifier; no passage states the physical site of the legislative act)Enactment of Section 377

    The Indian Penal Code, including Section 377, was passed into law on 6 October 1860 after revision by Barnes Peacock.

Background and detail

Background. The Indian Penal Code was drafted based on recommendations from the first Law Commission established in 1834 under Thomas Babington Macaulay. The draft was submitted to the Governor-General's Council in 1835. Section 377 specifically codified 'carnal intercourse against the order of nature' in 1860, serving as a legal model for other colonies and England.

Enactment. The draft underwent careful revision by Barnes Peacock, who later became the first chief justice of the Calcutta High Court. The code was passed into law on 6 October 1860. Although Macaulay did not survive to see the code come into force, having died in 1859, the provision was introduced as Section 377.

Legal Scope. Section 377 criminalized all sexual acts 'against the order of nature'. It was the first codification of such offenses in the British Empire, previously prosecuted under common law in England. The provision functioned as the legal impetus for criminalizing 'unnatural offences' throughout various colonies, often retaining the same section number.

People involved

Sources

  1. Section 377 Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-26
  2. Indian Penal Code Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-25

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.