The Volokh Conspiracy

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Volokh Conspiracy

What is a 'lascivious carriage,' and where can it be found?

|The Volokh Conspiracy |


You might think it's something you'd see shown on the cover of a romance novel set in the early 1800s, but it's actually a crime defined to cover, see Fowler v. State (Conn. 1811),

all those wanton acts, between persons of different sexes, flowing from the exercise of lustful passions, which are grossly indecent and unchaste; and which are not otherwise punished as crimes against chastity and public decency.

Wanton acts between persons of the same sex did not qualify, at least according to State v. Fenster (Conn. Cir. Ct. 1962). The term (though not the behavior) seemed to be, in the United States, nearly exclusive to Connecticut.

Eugene Volokh is the Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law at UCLA and a Visiting Fellow (Senior Fellow starting May 2024) at the Hoover Institution (Stanford). Naturally, his posts here (like the opinions of the other bloggers) are his own, and not endorsed by any educational institution.