Note 52 — Chapter IV
Reading edition
How easily an innocent action may be misconstrued under the Contagious Diseases Acts may be seen by the evidence of Mr. Parsons, an examining surgeon under these Acts, who when examined by the Parliamentary Committee as to his definition of a prostitute (there being none under the Acts), defined it as “any woman whom there is fair and reasonable grounds to suspect to be going to places which are the resort of prostitutes, and at times when immoral persons are out,” and added, “It is a matter of mannerism more than anything else.”