Restriction on prosecutions
8. No proceedings shall be instituted except by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions against any man for the offence of buggery with, or gross indecency with, another man, for attempting to commit either offence, or for aiding, abetting, counselling, procuring or commanding its commission where either of those men was at the time of its commission under the age of twenty-one:
Provided that this section shall not prevent the arrest, or the issue of a warrant for the arrest, of a person for any such offence, or the remand in custody or on bail of a person charged with any such offence.
Choice of mode of trial for certain offences.
9.—(1) A man charged before a magistrates' court with an offence under section 32 of the Act of 1956 (soliciting and importuning by men for immoral purposes) where the immoral purpose is the commission of a homosexual act shall be entitled to claim under section 25 of the Act of 1952 to be tried by a jury; and accordingly—
(a) in the said section 25 (as amended by Schedule 3 to the Act of 1956) for the words "section 30, 31 or 32 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956" there shall be substituted the 1956 c. 69. words "section 30 or 31 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 or an offence under section 32 of that Act where the immoral purpose is other than the commission of a homosexual act ";
(b) in paragraph 32 of Schedule 2 to the Act of 1956 (offences under the said section 32), in column 4 before the words "The accused" there shall be inserted the words "Except as provided by section 9 of the Sexual Offences Act 1967 ".
(2) The Act of 1952 shall have effect as if offences under section 13 of the Act of 1956(gross indecency between men)were included among those specified in paragraphs 1 to 18 of Schedule 1 to the Act of 1952 (indictable offences triable summarily with the consent of the accused); and paragraph 16(a) and (b) of Schedule 2 to the Act of 1956 shall have effect subject to section 19 of the Act of 1952 (summary trial of indictable offences specified in the said Schedule 1).
Past offences
10.—(1) Except as provided by the following provisions of this section, sections 1, 3, and 4 of this Act shall have effect in relation to acts done before the passing of this Act as they apply in relation to acts done after its passing.
(2) Except as provided by the next following subsection, this Act shall not have effect in relation to any act which is, or apart from this Act would be, an offence where the defendant to an indictment for that offence has been committed for trial before
