It's no longer a crime to be an 'incorrigible rogue' in England

Rogues of England rejoice - after 189 years it is no longer against the law to be such a knavish scoundrel.

"Incorrigible rogues" faced up to a year in jail under the Vagrancy Act 1824, one of 309 offences which the Ministry of Justice said were repealed in the year to May.

The act was "for the punishment of idle and disorderly persons, and rogues and vagabonds". It was brought in to deal with problems in England following the Napoleonic wars as large numbers of soldiers were discharged on to the streets with no job and no accommodation.

The act essentially made it an offence to sleep rough or to beg.

Amended over the years, the original law targeted "every common prostitute ... behaving in a riotous or indecent manner" and everyone deceiving King George IV's subjects by "pretending or professing to tell fortunes".

Everyone who escaped from custody under the act was deemed an "incorrigible rogue".