Carnal knowledge is an archaic or legal euphemism for sexual intercourse.[1] In modern statutes, the term "sexual penetration" is widely used, though with various definitions.
The term derives from carnal, meaning "of the flesh", and the Biblical usage of the verb know/knew, a euphemism for sexual conduct.
One examples of this usage is in the first part of the Bible, the Book of Genesis, which describes how Adam and Eve conceived their first child:
Also in Genesis is Lot's plea to the people of Sodom to whom he offered his virgin daughters, in place of his guests:
Some translations translate the Hebrew expression more explicitly, undoing the euphemism for clarity to modern readers; for example, the New International Version translates the Hebrew phrase literally meaning "to know" as "to make love to" in Genesis 4:1,[2] and as "to have sex with" in Genesis 19.[3]
In criminal law, the term has had different meanings at different times and in different jurisdictions. While commonly a mere euphemism for sexual intercourse (not necessarily unlawful), different jurisdictions have defined carnal knowledge (as well as sexual intercourse) as a specific sex act such as contact between a penis and vagina, some laws elaborating this to include even "slight penile penetration of female sex organs." The definition sometimes includes a set of sex acts that include sodomy, while some statutes specifically exclude such acts. Some laws do not define the term, and leave it to the courts to give it meaning, which also allows them to take into account changing community standards.
Carnal knowledge has also sometimes meant sexual intercourse outside of marriage, and sometimes refers to sex with someone under the age of consent. The phrase is often found in this sense in modern legal usage, being equivalent to statutory rape in some jurisdictions, as the term rape implies lack of consent.
Section 18 of the Offences against the Person Act 1828 reads as follows:
The crimes of carnally abusing girls referred to were those created by section 17 of the Act.
In cases decided under this section it was held that the slightest penetration was sufficient.[4]
This section was replaced by section 63 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. The term was not used in the Sexual Offences Act 1956, which replaced it, where it appeared, with the term sexual intercourse, in all the provisions consolidated by that Act. The current Sexual Offences Act 2003 goes further and does not refer to "sexual intercourse", instead describing the physical act explicitly in terms of specific body parts where relevant, and referring to "sexual activity" more generally in other cases.