A brothel, also known as a bordello or whorehouse, is an establishment specifically dedicated to
prostitution, providing the prostitutes a place to meet and to have sex with the clients. In some places, licensed brothels are legal (see prostitution), and in many countries, places such as
massage parlors are allowed to function as brothels, with varying degrees of regulation and repression. Depending on
zoning, brothels may be confined to special
red-light districts or 'tolerance zones'.
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A house of ill-fame, kept for the resort and unlawful commerce of lewd people of both sexes.
Such a house is a common nuisance, as it endangers the public peace by drawing together dissolute and debauched persons; and tends to corrupt both sexes by an open profession of lewdness.
The keeper of such a house may be indicted for the nuisance; and a married woman, because such houses are generally kept by the female sex, may be indicted with her husband for keeping such a house. One who assists in establishing a bawdyhouse is guilty of a misdemeanor.
This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.