A friend of mine, who was trained as a lawyer (but no longer practices), asserted in a recent conversation that adultery is illegal in all 50 states. Is this true?
I suppose that this means that in such places, adultery is technically illegal, but clearly such laws are rarely if ever enforced these days. Is there a special legal designation for acts that are only illegal according to ancient, obsolete laws? Does such neglect of enforcement ever have the (real legal) effect of repealing the laws?
(Idle inquiry: anyone know when/where the last adultery trial was held?)
I remember a few years back this lady in the Air Force got court-martialled for Adultery, so at least in the US armed forces it’s dealt with rather severely.
Considering that the very nebulous concept of sodomy is illegal in some states it wouldn’t surprise me. All 50 states seems somewhat suspect, particularily ones that have no fault divorce.
Not in California that I can tell. The Penal Code mentions adultery only once, in section 285:
The most recent case regarding adultery as a crime that I could find was 1940-ish, and it cited a section of the Penal Code (sections 269a and 269b) that no longer exist. So my suspicion is that adultery is no longer a crime in California (except as noted above).
I tried to search Maryland’s Code, but couldn’t find it for free (darn page wouldn’t load). So I googled, and discovered that you, commasense, better not commit adultery. Because in Maryland, it’s a misdemeanor. So unless you have the $10 for the fine, don’t do it.
For extra credit, here is an article about John Bushey, who last year accpeted a plea bargain rather than being convicted of adultery in Virginia. (Beware – the article is a bit purple.) According to the article, adultery is still illegal in 23 states (and, as its author notes, in Islamic countries – uh, relevance?).
IIRC, it’s illegal in Texas to “cohabitate” with a person of the opposite sex if you aren’t married to them,* so it wouldn’t surprise me much to find out that all 50 states still have laws against adultery on the books.
*[SUB]Yes, they mean live under the same roof, I don’t know how strictly they apply it or not, I’m assuming as in “shacking up” not a roommate situation, but you never know. [/SUB]
Note that in the wake of Lawrence v Texas the linked chart is out of date. Sodomy is legal in all 50 states (although the UCMJ still lists it and AFAIK it still stands because of the deference given by the courts to the military to police itself). While it has not been argued, the same logic that holds in Lawrence (and note this is not GD so yet another debate on the logic of Lawrence is uncalled for) would seem to invalidate adultery laws as well.
Not so sure that Lawrence’s logic applies to adultery, but won’t debate it here.
Whether the Supremes (or state courts) will ultimately find adultery laws unconstitutional, people are still sometimes prosecuted for violating them, e.g,
So it is a fair question to ask which states still have those laws on their books.
Here is a good article about adultery laws, although it predates Lawrence.
I agree with this – although Lawrence is not directly on point, a reasonable reading of its rationale would suggest that adultery laws now violate the Constitution.
Virginia’s legislative committee responsible for the update of laws in such circumstances has decided, at least this session, not to strike the laws. Their reasoning is unclear to me.
I said that the answer you provided contained, post-Lawrence, numerous factual errors (and in fact was incorrect pre-Lawrence; note that your chart doesn’t list Texas as having a sodomy law).
Hey. You’re right!
OTOH, many states still have adultery statutes on their books, and some are enforcing them.
For instance, in North Dakota, in 2005, a state court judge held the state’s adultery statute unconstitutional, but not on the basis of Lawrence.
I hope the statute of limitations has run out. It was a loooooonnnnnng time ago.
Thanks for all the good info, folks. I had a feeling the claim was hyperbole.
Particular thanks to Gfactor for the McWilliams link. Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do was one of the most influential books in shaping my world view, and that of at least one other person I gave it to.
