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Public Nuisance

According to the Crown Prosecution Service Public Nuisance is "an offence against public morals and decency", a common law offence which:

"should be used sparingly. It is reserved for situations which amount to substantial criminality but do not amount to a statutory offence or an infringement of bye-laws. An exception to this is where the penalty for a statutory or bye-law offence is plainly inadequate to reflect the seriousness of the facts. This would amount to a nuisance affecting a substantial number of members of the public."

This is an offence that is committed when a person acts in a way that endangers the life, health, property, morals or comfort of the public. The CPS asserts that there is case law that says exposure of genitals can constitute a Public Nuisance.

However, in January 2001, campaigner Vincent Bethell was tried on a Public Nuisance charge - “ being naked in a public place and refusing to clothe himself” - at Southwark Crown Court and was found not guilty by a jury. Bethell had been arrested on six separate occasions for his displays of public nudity, five times in London and once in Bristol.

It appears unlikely that such a charge would be applicable to a naturist behaving reasonably on a beach or similar remote location.

Please Note:
The information given on this page is intended only as a general guide to the the legal position . It was not written by a legally-qualified individual.
It should not be relied upon as a definitive guide to the law , and is only applicable to England and Wales. The law in Scotland and Northern Ireland may be different.
Neither the author nor the publishers of this FactFile can be held responsible should naturism or nudity cause you to be arrested and / or prosecuted for any offence.