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Adultery
Adultery is voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and another person who is not his or her spouse. The exact definition varies between cultures and legal jurisdictions. In most cases, only the married party is said to have committed adultery, and if both parties are married (but not to each other) then they both commit separate acts of adultery.
The term adultery has a Judeo-Christian origin. The concept is common to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, though Hinduism has a similar concept. But the word should be used cautiously when discussing other cultures, some of which permit less permanent forms of marriage, or even sexual "lending".[1]
In the United States, adultery is a crime in some some legal jurisdictions, but not in others (see below). However, even in jurisdictions where adultery is not itself a criminal offence, it may have legal consequences, particularly in divorce cases. For example it may constitute grounds for divorce, it may be a factor to consider in a property settlement, it may affect the status of children, the custody of children, etc. Moreover, adultery may result in social ostracism.
It has been claimed that the desire to commit adultery, like the compulsive desire to consume alcohol, results from a mental disorder.[2] However, if so, it is an extremely common one, as three recent studies in the United States, using nationally representative samples, have found that about 10-15% of women and 20-25% of men engage in extramarital sex.[3][4][5]
Korean Adultery Law
Adultery is a crime in Korea punishable by up to two years in jail. Now Ok So-Ri, a famous Korean actress who has been indicted for adultery, has petitioned Korea?s Constitutional Court to invalidate the 1953 law that criminalizes such conduct...
Monogamous same-sex adultery
David Benkof has this commentary in the San Francisco Chronicle. He writes:
I argue against same-sex marriage in part because I think the gay and lesbian community barely understands marriage, particularly the part about fidelity ...
"Is Pornography Adultery?"
Ross Douthat asks a question that seems to assume everyone is married. I think the answer to the question -- even if everyone is married -- is so obviously no that I'm not going to say anything else about it, but maybe you'd like to talk about it...
Where Adultery is Still a Crime
There is a major scandal breaking in South Korea because of an actress invovled in criminal adultery. This article highlights the unusual history of South Korea's adultery laws:South Korean prosecutors on Wednesday demanded a popular actress who tried to overturn...
Adultery, Divorce & the Criminal Law
It looks like Eliot and Silda may be staying together after all. For a couple who has long been in the public spotlight, having a hot dog together in Central Park was surely a intentional display of a marriage on the mend...
Adultery, legal or illegal in Malaysia?
What is adultery?
My friend said “adultery is having secret relationship with someone who has married.”
Based on L B Curzon, Dictionary of Law, 4th edition, (International Law Book Services: Kuala Lumpur), 1995, “adultery“ means an act of voluntary sexual intercourse (which need not be completed) between two persons not married to each other, but one or both of [...
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