In the modern Western world, adultery is overwhelmingly viewed as a moral transgression, legally relevant only in case of divorce. However, this is a fairly recent development. Through the greater part of mankind's history, adultery was a crime鈥攐ne that frequently only women could commit. A...
In Middle English, also "sex between husband and wife for recreational purposes; idolatry, perversion, heresy." As a crime, formerly classified assingle adultery(with an unmarried person) anddouble adultery(with a married person). The Old English word wasæwbryce"breach of law(ful marriage)"...
(Law) voluntary sexual intercourse between a married man or woman and a partner other than the legal spouse [C15:adulterie,altered (as if directly from Latinadulterium) from C14avoutrie,via Old French from Latinadulterium,fromadulter,back formation fromadulterāre.See adulterate] ...
At Common Law, adultery was wrongful intercourse between a married woman and any man other than her husband. Criminal Laws Several state legislatures statutorily prohibit adultery as a crime. Under some statutes, both parties to an adulterous relationship are guilty of a crime if either of them...
Adultery as Grounds If you live in a no-fault state, your spouse can't divorce you because you committed adultery. He's limited to grounds such as irreconcilable differences or irretrievable breakdown of the marriage, and he typically cannot present evidence or allegations that you did somethi...
I. Nature of the Crime. — 1. Jewish. — Among the Hebrews, as in other Oriental nations, adultery was the act whereby any married man was exposed to the risk of having a spurious offspring imposed upon him. An adulterer was, therefore, any man who had illicit intercourse with a ...
existence of sodomy laws has limited homosexuals to a second-class position in society, whether or not the laws have actually been enforced. This second-class status is reflected in derogatory synonyms for sodomy such as: unnatural offense, abominable and detestable crime against nature, and ...
Adultery as Grounds If you live in a no-fault state, your spouse can't divorce you because you committed adultery. He's limited to grounds such as irreconcilable differences or irretrievable breakdown of the marriage, and he typically cannot present evidence or allegations that you did somethi...
One of the most common issues in divorce is infidelity, typically referred to as “adultery.” We are often asked many questions about adultery. This is because many clients believe that adultery is a crime. That is not the case pursuant to Florida law; however, although it is not listed ...
Most Americans -- typically between two-thirds and three-quarters of those surveyed -- don’t think adultery should be a crime... The law needs to catch up. As legal scholar Thurmond Arnold observed three-quarters of a century ago, “Most unenforced criminal laws survive in order to satisf...