from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
SODOMY, crim. law. The crime against nature, committed either with man or
beast.
2. It is a crime not it to be named; peccatum illud horrible, inter
christianos non nominandum. 4 Bl. Com. 215; 1 East, P. C. 480, 487; Bac. Ab.
h.t.; Hawk. b. 1, c. 4; 1 Hale, 669; Com. Dig. Justices, S 4; Russ. & Ry.
331.
3. This crime was punished with great severity by the civil law. Nov.
141; Nov. 77; Inst. 4, 18, 4. See 1 Russ. on Cr. 568; R. & R. C. C. 331,
412; 1 East, P. C. 437.