In response to one of my earlier questions , some said adultery is illegal , could you name a court case were?

Question

one is charged with criminal adultery ? Criminal adultery I've never heard of .

Answer 1

It is one of the eight commandments you can legally break.

Answer 2

Joseph Smith, who founded the Latter Day Saints, was jailed and then lynched for adultery. (Not meant as support or critique of Mormons, just an example I've heard of)

I don't know if there are any modern adultery laws still on the books. If a case is made for adultery in a divorce case, it might affect the judge's decision on division of property, though I'm not sure if there is any actually law stating that. Bigamy and pedophilia are illegal. So, I guess you can commit adultery as long as the other one is old enough and you don't marry the person before divorcing.

Yet another of the "10 Commandments" that US laws are not based on.

Answer 3

There are several states it is illegal in. Just do a search for it on Google and you will see. It is only sometimes criminal, but it often has civil penalties. It is almost never enforced and usually struck down by the courts as are sodomy laws like the recent Supreme Court ruling against the State of Texas. It is also grounds for a divorce.

One place it is enforced a lot is in the military, especially among officers. If you are married and caught in an affair, they will put you out. I saw it at least three times in the two years I was in.

Answer 4

Historically, adultery has been subject to severe sanctions including the death penalty and has been grounds for divorce under fault-based divorce laws. In some places the method for punishing adultery is stoning to death.[1]

In the original Napoleonic Code, a man could ask to be divorced from his wife if she committed adultery, but the adultery of the husband was not a sufficient motive unless he had kept his concubine in the family home.

In some jurisdictions, including Korea and Taiwan, adultery is illegal. In the United States, laws vary from state to state. For example, in Pennsylvania, adultery is technically punishable by 2 years of imprisonment or 18 months of treatment for insanity (for history, see Hamowy). That being said, such statutes are typically considered blue laws, and are rarely, if ever, enforced. In the U.S. Military, adultery is a court-martialable offense only if it was "to the prejudice of good order and discipline" or "of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces" [2]. This has been applied to cases where both partners were members of the military, particularly where one is in command of the other, or one partner and the other's spouse. The enforceability of criminal sanctions for adultery is very questionable in light of Supreme Court decisions since 1965 relating to privacy and sexual intimacy, and particularly in light of Lawrence v. Texas, which apparently recognized a broad constitutional right of sexual intimacy for consenting adults.

In Canadian law, adultery is defined under the Divorce Act. Though the written definition sets it as extramarital relations with someone of the opposite sex, the recent change in the definition of marriage gave grounds for a British Columbia judge to strike that definition down. In a 2005 case of a woman filing for divorce, her husband had cheated on her with another man, which the judge felt was equal reasoning to dissolve the union.

Answer 5

There are communities which practice the literal interpretation of the Koran have it as a criminal charge you can levy, but it is only against women who can be charged. In the US... fundamental Puritans had it on their books and more than one woman was charged with it.

The US Military has it as a illegal act that you can be charged with. A female AF Captain was convicted of it.

See a pattern?

Answer 6

Many states still have statutes on the books which make adultery a crime. It's never been overturned by the Supreme Court, which would make it unenforceable. This means it is an enforcable crime, though extremely few localities do.

Many states don't consider it a crime.

Answer 7

There are a number of states that have laws against adultry, making the act a misdemeanor. North Carolina, Utah, Virginia and Georgia are four states that make this act a crime.

People ARE still convicted of this crime in the U.S. Not surprisingly, the ACLU wants to eradicate these laws. Here's an article:

http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/gen/11917prs20040225.html

Peace.

Answer 8

Nobody gets prosecuted for adultery in America anymore. It's simple as that. This isn't 1930.

Answer 9

I didn't read your first question, but.....adultery is not illegal its immoral according to the ten commandments. nothing to do with law of man....but of Gods.

Answer 10

It's against the law in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other countries have it on their books of law but they don't practice it anymore.