Article 103 regulates any type of sexual activity with minors under the age of 15 (or minors under the age of 18 who are unable to understand the legal significance and consequences of such acts) such as the sexual abuse of children. [135] For a long time, the drinking age in Spain was 16, then in some regions it has increased to 18, today and since 2009, THE DRINKING AGE IN SPAIN IS 18 IN ALL REGIONS. This change in the law came after a series of incidents of underage drinking. Despite some suggestions to raise the legal drinking age to 21, it remains unchanged at 18, which some people consider quite young. It is important to mention at this point that the European Union is concerned about the practice of excessive alcohol consumption and that the regulations of Member States such as Spain follow the debate within the European Union on this issue. Male homosexuality was illegal under Article 175, regardless of age since 1872. Female homosexuality has not been prosecuted. In West Germany, male homosexuality was legalized in 1969. The age of consent was set at 21 and lowered to 18 in 1975. Only men over the age of 18 may be delinquents and the courts may refrain from punishing if the offender is not yet 21 years of age.
In the GDR, the penal code was supplemented in 1957 by a provision that allowed prosecution to be waived if socialist society had not been harmed by the illegal act. With regard to article 175, this means that male homosexual acts are prosecuted only if they concern minors, i.e. persons under the age of 18. The new Penal Code of 1968 officially legalized homosexuality and criminalized only homosexual acts committed by adults with minors in Article 151, which is now gender-neutral. In 1987, the GDR Supreme Court ruled that homosexuality, like heterosexuality, was a variant of sexual behavior. In 1989, section 151 was repealed and section 149 amended to include any sexual orientation. Until 1998, homosexual acts between men were totally prohibited under Article 171 (1929). In 1989, Alecos Modinos, president of the Cypriot gay liberation movement, brought a case before the European Court of Human Rights. In 1993, the Court ruled that the prohibition of homosexual acts constituted a violation of Article 8. In January 1995, the Cypriot Government submitted a bill to the Cypriot Parliament which would have lifted the ban. Strong resistance from the Orthodox Church led to the bill being halted when it was referred to Parliament`s Legal Affairs Committee. The European Commission reiterated its warning that Cyprus must follow the Court`s ruling.
In May 1997, a government measure to lift the ban again failed due to strong opposition. In April 1998, the Council of Europe set 29 May 1998 as the deadline for compliance with the obligations, and on 21 May 1998 the House of Representatives voted 36 to 8 in favour of legalising homosexual acts. However, it was set at 18, while heterosexual acts remained at 16. The concept of age classification used in Canada, for example, does not exist in the Maltese legal system, and sexual activity between a 15-year-old partner and a 16-year-old partner may be a stain on minors, depending on the circumstances, without exception permitted solely because of their age. Homosexual acts, both between men and women, have been banned in Sweden since 1864, and then in 1944 homosexual acts became legal – but with a higher age of consent of 18 (21 if the younger party was in a situation of dependence) than for heterosexual acts, which have always been set at 15 years. The age of consent was finally raised to 15 in 1978, regardless of sexual orientation. [130] The current Spanish electoral law, Ley Orgánica 5/1985, de 19 de junio, del Régimen Electoral General, provides that Spanish citizens of legal age (18 years old, as stipulated in the Spanish Constitution) may vote in general elections. Male homosexual acts were legalized in Denmark (lesbianism was never illegal) with an age of consent of 18, after a complete reform of the penal code in 1930; At the same time, the age of consent to heterosexual acts has been raised from 12 to 15. In 1976, the age of consent for all acts was harmonized at 15. Sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 12 is punishable by double punishment, and sexual intercourse with a minor under the age of 18 is illegal for a person responsible for the child. Prior to the independence of the Irish Free State in 1922, the law in Ireland was that of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (see History of the United Kingdom).
Anal sex was illegal under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, while the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 criminalised the “desecration of a girl between the ages of thirteen and sixteen”, with harsher penalties for “desecration of girls under thirteen years of age”. The 1930 Carrigan Report on the Sexual Abuse of Children and Prostitution of Minors recommended raising the age of consent to 18. [51] The Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1935 raised the age to 17, with harsher penalties for those under 15, and prohibited advocacy of error. [52] The Child Sexual Abuse Act, including the age of consent, was the subject of a consultation paper in 1989[53] and a report[54] by the Law Reform Commission (LRC). He recommended that near-age cases remain criminalized, but with softer sentencing guidelines. He also recommended greater awareness of age limits. [59] [60] Most of the changes were implemented in 2017, although the age of consent remained at 17. Anyone who has sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16 can be prosecuted (unless they are under 10 years old, the age of criminal responsibility). This means that consensual sex between consenting people of the same age (for example, a 16-year-old and a 15-year-old) can also lead to prosecution for committing a sexual offence. For this reason, guidelines have been established on how a person who has had sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16 can be followed appropriately based on the age of a person under the age of 16 at the time of sexual intercourse.